Ireland should not be “pushed” into a decision on the future of the Aughinish Alumina plant by the European Union, the mayor of Limerick has said.
John Moran has written to the Taoiseach and other Ministers calling for a “co-ordinated forum” to be established in his office for planning the future of the operation, which is located outside the city on the Shannon estuary.
An Irish Times investigation earlier this year detailed how the plant was exporting vast amounts of raw material to smelters in Russia, which is sold to a company that supplies aluminium to Russian arms manufacturers. The Government is finalising an investigation into the company’s role in the shipments.
Speaking on RTÉ Radio’s This Week programme on Sunday, Moran said people in Limerick were not confident that the voice of workers at the plant, as well as suppliers, was being heard.
He said the plant directly employs about 1,000 workers in the region and a further 2,000-3,000 jobs in the region were linked to it.
“That’s the hard part, making sure that part of the equation is heard and we’re not just, like, pushed into some decision by the European Union,” he said.
In recent days, the European Parliament voted in favour of a non-binding motion to ban alumina exports to Russia. Such a step would seriously curtail the plant’s business.
Moran, a former secretary general at the Department of Finance, said the last time a “big decision” was taken under “European pressure without the right facts, we regretted it in the bank guarantee”. He has asked that workers, unions, management and the “voices of Limerick” are heard at the table when the future of the plant is discussed.
The Limerick refinery is owned by Russian metals giant Rusal, which Swedish tax authorities recently concluded remains under the control of sanctioned oligarch Oleg Deripaska.
Moran said the legislation under which his office operates makes it “very specifically the case” that when important policy matters are being decided at the national level that affect Limerick, the mayor has to be consulted.
“If he has to be consulted, then information has to be shared.”
Asked about the substantive issue, the potential use of alumina in the Russian military supply chain, he said there was a “balance to be struck” and there had been no “invasive supervision” on where the exports were going.
He said 50 per cent of the exports were going to make medical devices and other products Europe wants.
“We don’t want to be knee-jerked into a situation that has such tremendous repercussions on people,” he said.
Moran suggested some form of a buyout of shares, rather than nationalisation, could be considered. Based on his previous experience as a senior civil servant, he said his expectation was that the central Government must have been considering a scenario of nationalisation.
“We need to have some calm, we need to work out what is the right answer for Ireland, what’s the right answer for Ukraine, what’s the right answer for Europe?”
Speaking earlier on The Week in Politics programme, Labour TD for Limerick City Conor Sheahan said he believed the plant should be nationalised. Sinn Féin’s Mayo TD Rose Conway Walsh said jobs must be protected.
Minister for Higher Education James Lawless, on the same programme, said the Government takes the issue “extremely seriously” but it would not become “judge and jury” while the investigation, being undertaken by the Department of Enterprise, remained live.
He said Ireland had supported sanctions on Russia and that alumina has not been included in any sanction package to date.