I figured it out. Code was fine but production wasn't starting due to a licencing not applying. Turns out coping key to iris build folder wasn't enough - once placed a copy in the/usr/irissys/mgr/ that allowed the production to run. That perhaps problem explains the issue I was having with ZPM also because the key wasn't applying until a later stage from the build location. I need to review the way we handle the licences but this will get me running for the moment.

ARG IMAGE=containers.intersystems.com/intersystems/irishealth:2022.1.0.209.0
FROM $IMAGE

WORKDIR /home/irisowner/irisbuild

COPY iris.key /usr/irissys/mgr/iris.key
COPY iris.key iris.key