It probably just sold much worse then they expected....so they sent over the remaining machines....
Alpha is right about the first machines beginning to be build in Ireland (everything pre 1980 is US built, so was my Dominos) but does anybody have a clue when they stopped production in Ireland ?
How about the System x machines ?
The Atari Ireland factory turned into a Namco factory after it's demise. A UK collector called XY-Man went over to the Atari Ireland factory when it closed down and took everything that was left in it.
This included:
1 prototype Metal Maniax machine
Quite a few Atari CAT boxes
All the master roms
All internal documentation between Atari US and Atari Ireland
leaflets, flyers, other documentation
any left over games