1955 – Booth Poole & Co., Islandbridge, Dublin

The Government of the Irish Republic, during its early years, relied heavily on protectionist measures and policies to retain some control of its economy. The motor industry was a prime example of these policies at work. It was designed to make it prohibitively expensive to buy any car which was not assembled in the Republic. Even the accession to the Common Market in 1973 did not completely remove the tariff barriers which were specially negotiated in order to protect the jobs involved and allowed to remain until 1984.

In 1889 Booth Brothers, who started out as toolmakers and who already were involved in the sale of bicycles, partnered with Dunlop to set up the first Pneumatic tyre factory in the world in Dublin. Booth Brothers became the MG assembler in Ireland from 1938 to the mid 1950s. They then merged with W.F. Poole Ltd., the Morris Commercials assemblers, around 1954 forming Booth Poole Ltd. who continued assembling a variety of BMC cars until 1971 including MG and Wolesley. Taken over by the Brittain Group in later years. Closed in the 1980s.

At one time there was many CKD (Completely Knocked Down) car assembly plants in Ireland. At the height of the industry there were twelve firms involved, assembling vehicles for Datsun, Fiat, Ford, British Leyland, Mercedes Benz, Peugeot, Renault, Volkswagen, Toyota, and Heinkel bubble-cars. The kits arrived in crates, usually with a fully assembled engine, gearbox and transmission, and were assembled using local labour, glass and trim. In 1967 RTE Newsbeat recorded a piece at this factory Newsbeat asks if the Irish car assembly industry is up to scratch?

The architect Samuel J. Hurd was active from the mid 1930s until the late 1960s. According to the membership lists of the RIBA, Hurd was in partnership with Edwin W. Squire in the 1950s and 1960s at 79 Merrion Square in Dublin.