The Government will continue to be “very supportive” of economic sanctions targeting Russia when it takes over the EU presidency next month, the State’s top diplomat in Brussels has said.
The Coalition is coming under increasing pressure over revelations the large Aughinish Alumina plant in Co Limerick is shipping vast amounts of alumina to smelters in Russia, where it is used to make aluminium later supplied to dozens of Russian arms manufacturers.
Successive rounds of EU sanctions have blacklisted Russia from large parts of the global economy, stopped the supply of many materials that could be used to help its war effort and curtailed the amount of money Moscow can make selling its oil and gas.
On Monday, Margus Tsahkna, Estonia’s foreign minister, said the Baltic country had called for a ban on EU exports of alumina to Russia in the latest batch of proposed sanctions.
In a post on X, formerly Twitter, Tsahkna said European countries “must not export goods to Russia that can support its military industry or help sustain its aggression against Ukraine”.
The foreign minister said “every loophole” that helped Russia needed to be shut off to weaken its war machine.
Speaking on Tuesday, Ambassador Aingeal O’Donoghue, who heads Ireland’s diplomatic mission, which is known as the permanent representation to the European Union, said Ireland had “always been very supportive of sanctions packages” squeezing Russia.
O’Donoghue said Ireland would press forward on any further rounds of sanctions when it took over the rotating Council of the EU presidency for the second half of this year.
“The key message around the sanctions packages is that they are having an impact and that they do actually create pressure on Russia,” the senior Irish diplomat told a talk organised by the European Policy Centre think tank.
An Irish Times investigation in March, carried out in co-operation with the Organised Crime and Corruption Reporting Project, detailed the downstream role Aughinish Alumina plays in the supply chain of the Russian military effort, prompting growing calls for exports of alumina to Russia to be curtailed by EU economic sanctions.
The plant, which is owned by Rusal, is a major employer in the midwest region.
The European Commission, the EU’s executive body, is expected to shortly propose its 21st package of economic sanctions, aimed at hurting Russia’s ability to continue its war.
The fresh measures will have to be unanimously approved by the union’s 27 national governments.
The commission is not expected to propose hitting exports of alumina. There is concern that targeting the Aughinish Alumina plant could disrupt the supply of the crucial raw material to European industries.
Responding to a question at the Brussels talk, O’Donoghue said she was limited in comments she could make about Aughinish Alumina.
“There are a range of media reports which are currently being investigated, but just to repeat that we are committed to working on sanctions packages and committed to working with our European partners,” she said.
An investigation by the Department of Enterprise into the revelations is expected to be completed this month, Tánaiste and Minister for Finance Simon Harris said.
Separately, progressing the early stages of Ukraine’s bid to join the union would be one of Ireland’s priorities when it held the EU council presidency for the coming six months, O’Donoghue said.