Sir, – Bob Montgomery defends completely knocked down (CKD) car assembly in Ireland as having been “hardly an incredibly inefficient process” (October 31st).
CKD assembly was never intended to be efficient. It made no sense to remove car parts from an assembly line, pack them carefully in large wooden crates, send them to Ireland, unpack them and finally assemble them into a car.
The CKD process was carried out with protectionism in mind rather than efficiency, and it provided jobs in Ireland assembling cars that were much more expensive than the same cars elsewhere because of the high assembly costs and high taxation.
CKD car assembly was first suggested by Sean Lemass, as Bob Montgomery correctly states, and was in accordance with Lemass’s protectionist stance at the time. However, Lemass thankfully changed this stance in the late 1950s, persuaded to do so largely by TK Whitaker, and importation of fully built cars gradually overcame CKD cars. Joining the EEC was the final nail in the coffin of CKD car assembly.
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Interestingly here in Wexford one can occasionally come across an old garden shed or dog kennel made from timber, stamped with the Renault logo, from the large crates that were used to bring in car parts for the Wexford Renault assembly plant. – Yours, etc,
SEAN O’SULLIVAN,
Crossabeg,
Co Wexford.