Both Ireland and the wider European Union had to make sure they were not “inadvertently” assisting Russian leader Vladimir Putin’s “deplorable” war in Ukraine, Tánaiste and Minister for Finance Simon Harris has said.
A Department of Enterprise investigation into Aughinish Alumina and the Co Limerick refinery’s role supplying a key raw material used to make aluminium to Russia was “nearing finality”, the Fine Gael leader said.
Speaking in Brussels, Harris said it was the job of the European Commission to draft and propose economic sanctions to constrain Russia’s ability to continue its four-year invasion in Ukraine.
“It is always important on any issue that a sanctions package understands the impacts that it can have on the European Union. That’s not a reason to not impose sanctions, but it is a reason to at least understand it,” he told reporters.
A report of the Government’s inquiry into Aughinish Alumina would be provided “in full” to commission officials in Brussels.
“It is the European Commission to then decide whether the European Commission wishes to sanction or not sanction any individual or any company, that’s always been the way,” he said.
Reporting by The Irish Times and other media outlets detailed how Aughinish Alumina is exporting vast amounts of raw material, alumina, to smelters in Russia, that is then sold to a company supplying aluminium to Russian arms manufacturers.
The Government has come under significant pressure in Europe to show the Irish industrial plant is not playing a downstream role supplying the Russian war machine.
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.
EU governments are expected to sign off on the bloc’s 21st round of sanctions in the coming days after several weeks of talks.
Attention will then turn to work drafting a 22nd package of sanctions. It is likely there will be pressure from the Baltic states and other governments to sanction or ban companies exporting alumina to Russia.
From the Shannon to Siberia: How alumina from a Limerick refinery enters Russia’s weapons supply chain
- Aughinish Alumina in Co Limerick supplies vast amounts of raw materials to Russian aluminium smelters, according to an investigation by The Irish Times and the Organised Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP).
- Read the full investigation here.
The commission previously decided against targeting alumina in earlier rounds of sanctions, due to the important role Aughinish Alumina plays as a supplier to European industry.
Concerns about the Co Limerick industrial facility had been raised before by US and EU authorities and “those issues addressed to their satisfaction”, Harris said.
Drafting a package of economic sanctions was a balancing act that had to weigh up the harm they would do to Russia and their potential impact on Europe’s supply chains, he said.
Aughinish Alumina has warned it could be forced to shut the plant in the event its exports were sanctioned by the EU.
Harris said it was important that European industry was supplied with alumina. “It’s also really important that we make sure that there’s nothing inadvertently being done in any manner or means that provides any assistance whatsoever to Russia,” he said.
“I think it’s the job of governments, I think it’s the job of the European Union, to be able to do more than one thing at a time,” he said.
Harris was speaking on Friday morning before chairing a meeting of EU finance ministers in Brussels, the first since the Government assumed the Council of the EU presidency.