DICK BYRNE, CORK, BORN 1938

Dick Byrne is a Dublin native who, following a short period of employment at Irish Ropes, joined Navan Carpets in 1965. He was appointed sales manager at Navan Carpets for the southern region, and he was involved in the setting up of the showrooms at Patrick Street, Cork, in the 1960s. This recording provides many fascinating anecdotes about factory management and sales at Navan Carpets both in Ireland and England. He discusses his views on the reasons why the Youghal Carpets’ takeover came about. Dick was appointed Irish agent for Stoddard Carpets of Scotland in 1971, and progressed to sales manager some years later. In the late 1970s he started his own carpet company named Glenealy and he talks about the challenges that this entailed. He discusses the management team, the designers and general staff at Navan Carpets during his time there.