The idea of banning exports of alumina to Russia has been pitched in confidential discussions at European Union (EU) level for more than a year and a half by the Estonian government, without success.
The Irish Government is coming under serious pressure on the international stage to clarify Aughinish Alumina’s role supplying key raw materials to Russia, following criticism that alumina it makes ultimately ends up in the supply chain of the Russian military industry.
It is understood the European Commission, the EU’s powerful executive arm, plans to re-examine the possibility of proposing sanctions targeting that trade, after it receives the findings of an inquiry being conducted by the Department of Enterprise.
There is a growing expectation among senior EU officials in Brussels that action against the Co Limerick industrial plant may be required, if that official Irish investigation backs up media reporting mapping Aughinish’s controversial Russian supply chain.
The department was tasked with investigating disclosures in The Irish Times that Aughinish Alumina was exporting vast amounts of the raw material used to make aluminium to Russia, which later ended up supplying Russia’s military industry.
The Shannon estuary refinery is owned by Russian metals giant Rusal, which Swedish tax authorities recently concluded remains under the control of sanctioned oligarch Oleg Deripaska.
The Estonian government has repeatedly petitioned the European Commission to propose a ban on exports of key raw materials, including aluminum oxide, to Russia, in EU-level talks about new sanctions to hamper Moscow’s ability to prosecute its war in Ukraine.
A spokeswoman for the Estonian ministry of foreign affairs confirmed it had asked the EU executive body to target aluminium exports in the last six rounds of economic sanctions targeting Russia. Estonia first made the request at least a year and a half ago, much earlier than previously known.
The small Baltic state shares a border with Russia and has been one of the most vocal member states calling for tougher EU measures to choke the Russian wartime economy.
To date the commission has not included alumina on a list of sanctioned products, which would prohibit its sale to Russia.
At the moment European governments are negotiating the bloc’s 21st round of sanctions, which need to be unanimously approved.
Another batch of measures and restrictions will be proposed afterwards, likely during Ireland’s Council of the EU presidency. Growing pressure to cut off the flow of material that Aughinish Alumina ships to Russia could put Dublin in a very awkward position in such a scenario.
The Government – in its six month stint as EU dealmaker – would be responsible for securing the support of all 27 member states to approve that sanction package.
Speaking on Thursday, Taoiseach Micheál Martin said the Government would consider what “options are available”, in co-ordination with Brussels officials, when it received a copy of the department’s investigation. That report would be completed “within weeks as opposed to months,” he said.
Ireland and the commission “could develop an approach that would deal with the core issue here, in terms of material going from that plant to Russia”, Martin said.
The refinery’s role supplying European industry was a factor that had to be borne in mind. Martin said Ireland had not been lobbying “in any way, shape or form” to keep alumina products out of any rounds of EU sanctions.
Earlier, Tánaiste and Minister for Finance Simon Harris said he has not been “involved in any conversations” about the State nationalising Aughinish Alumina, in the event new sanctions cut off its exports to Russia, a move the company warned could force the facility to close, threatening hundreds of jobs.