Fianna Fáil Minister says redirection of Aughinish Alumina exports a ‘simplistic’ solution

Suggestions that Aughinish Alumina could redirect exports away from Russia are “simplistic”, a Government Minister has said, suggesting a third party could ensure Irish products are not being used in the Kremlin’s war against Ukraine. Minister of State for Agriculture Niall Collins, who represents the Limerick County constituency where the plant provides hundreds of direct jobs, also said there were “commercial and legal” reasons why a Government report on exports from the plant could not be published. Earlier this year, The Irish Times published an investigation into exports from the plant to Russian smelters that in turn supply aluminium to a trading company which does business with arms companies in that country.After the revelations, the Government commissioned a report on links between the facility and Russian industry. READ MOREMinister for Enterprise Peter Burke said the report made “no adverse findings” about the company’s export of raw material to Russia. But the Government has refused to publish it in full and it has not been shared with the Ukrainian government, according to an embassy official speaking on RTÉ Radio on Sunday. The Ukrainian diplomat stationed in Dublin told the This Week programme that it was very important for his country to receive the report and go through it. A full version, obtained by The Irish Times and published on Saturday, raised concerns that its Russian parent company may be engaged in illicit financial activity, and confirmed that exports of alumina from Aughinish to Russia have increased significantly since 2020 and “at a more pronounced level since 2022”. It said it could not identify sufficient evidence to substantiate allegations that the plant was supplying the Russian military but that its assessment was “necessarily limited to the information currently available”. The report has now been sent to the European Commission for further consideration. Collins said suggestions the plant could export elsewhere other than Russia were “a very simplistic approach”. And he argued that any decisions “can’t be self-defeating” or inflict damage on the Irish economy or the European economy.“Somebody saying that a quick fix here is that we can somehow nationalise Aughinish or somehow divert their business in another direction just simply does not understand the complexities of how global supply chains and how global manufacturing processes work,” he said. He argued that the European Commission should consider appointing a specialist organisation which can track the exports.“They can give proper oversight to ensure categorically that any product that leaves Limerick ... wouldn’t go into the military complex or the war effort.”Yaroslav Humeniuk, the first secretary on economic issues at the Ukrainian embassy in Ireland, said Russia was exporting alumina to other countries as well as receiving it from the Republic, which meant it could spend the income generated to finance its war in Ukraine. He confirmed the Ukrainians had given information to the department about where the produce was going, but would only say that it was going to Russia and would not be drawn on whether it was going to the Russian military ultimately. “We need to proceed and find a solution [on] how to stop supporting Russia in their war and how to stop this supply chain of alumina,” he said.