6th May, 2026

Ford Motor Company moves its Irish HQ

6 May 2026
By Tom Collins
tom@TheCork.ie

Business/Property News

Office move from Elm Court, Boreenmanna Road to Penrose One, Penrose Dock

Ford in Ireland is unusual in that its HQ is in the second city of Cork, not the capital of Dublin. This is for historic reasons. Henry Ford’s ancestors hailed from Ballinascarthy in County Cork, and there used to be a Ford Factory in Cork City until the 1980’s.

Henry Ford & Son Ltd has now changed its Companies registered address to a modern office building: “Part of Fifth Floor, Penrose One, Penrose Dock, Cork City” moving away from “Elm Court, Boreenmanna Road, Cork”. That’s according to documents filed with the Companies Registration Office. Corkonians will better recognise this new address as “Penrose Quay” because “Penrose Dock” is not in common usage.

Ford closed its Marina, Cork factory in 1984 with the loss of 800 jobs. In 1987 Ford moved offices from the Marina to Elm Court, Boreenmanna Road, Cork, T12 HHW2. That location is in “the City”, but not quite the City Centre, whereas the new location is within walking distance of the Train station, Bus station, and St Patrick Street.

Data from the Property Services Regulatory Authority Commercial Register of leases shows the existence of a 3-year commercial lease dated 1st November 2025 for “Office” at “Part of Fifth Floor, Penrose Dock, Cork City” for 3 years at €191,940 per year. The public register never discloses the name of a tenant, so it is not clear if this is for Henry Ford & Son Ltd, but given the impressive annual turn over of €334m per year, the price would be within the budget of the multinational car giant.

The price would appear to be higher than Ford were paying before, insofar as, as regards the old address, Lisney Commercial Estate Agents are now offering for rent the first floor of Elm Court “from €120,000” per year. Estate agent photos show some signs that this office was used by Ford.