{"id":402249,"date":"2026-03-25T00:43:14","date_gmt":"2026-03-25T00:43:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/402249\/"},"modified":"2026-03-25T00:43:14","modified_gmt":"2026-03-25T00:43:14","slug":"government-to-review-concerning-findings-of-irish-times-aughinish-investigation-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/402249\/","title":{"rendered":"Government to review \u2018concerning\u2019 findings of Irish Times Aughinish investigation \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Two Government departments are to review findings of an Irish Times investigation<\/a> that highlighted links between Irish-made alumina and dozens of Russian<\/a> weapons manufacturers.<\/p>\n

It follows a commitment in the D\u00e1il<\/a> from Taoiseach Miche\u00e1l Martin<\/a> to examine the matter and a commitment by the Belgian<\/a> government to close the \u201cloophole\u201d that allows alumina produced in Ireland to be exported to Russia.<\/p>\n

There have also been calls from Opposition members and a prominent Ukrainian politician for a crackdown on exports of the material to Russia.<\/p>\n

The investigation, carried out in co-operation with the Organised Crime and Corruption Reporting Project and other European outlets, found that the Aughinish Alumina<\/a> plant in Co Limerick<\/a> is shipping vast amounts of alumina to smelters in Russia where it is used to make aluminium. This aluminium is then sold to a trading company, ASK, that supplies dozens of Russian arms manufacturers, according to leaked financial documents.<\/p>\n

ASK sells aluminium to more than 100 companies that manufacture weapons and military equipment. These include the manufacturers of short-range ballistic missiles, which have caused hundreds of civilian deaths in Ukraine<\/a>; Russia\u2019s largest tank factory; and companies making components for Russian Sukhoi bombers and fighter jets.<\/p>\n

Shipments of Irish-made alumina to Russia have increased significantly since 2020, despite the invasion of Ukraine and efforts to isolate Moscow on the international stage.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0From the Shannon to Siberia: How alumina from a Limerick refinery enters Russia\u2019s weapons supply chainOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

Russia is now Aughinish\u2019s single biggest customer. It imported 68 per cent of the alumina produced at the plant last year, up from 23 per cent in 2020.<\/p>\n

The Government has previously denied the plant plays any part in supplying material to Russia\u2019s military industry.<\/p>\n

Responding to questions in the D\u00e1il on Tuesday, the Taoiseach said he was not previously aware of the links between Irish alumina and the Russia weapons industry. <\/p>\n

He expressed concern about the findings and pledged to examine the issue and \u201ctry to get into the background to it\u201d.<\/p>\n

But he stressed Aughinish Alumina \u201cis a very significant employer in the midwest and it supports hundreds of jobs directly and indirectly\u201d.<\/p>\n

It also \u201chas a connection to the supply chain within Europe in terms of steel industry\u201d.<\/p>\n

\"TheThe Aughinish Plant in Co Limerick is located close to the Shannon Estuary towns of Foynes and Askeaton and is owned by Rusal, a Russian company founded by oligarch Oleg Deripaska. Photograph: Alan Betson <\/p>\n

A Government spokesman said it is taking the findings \u201cvery seriously and are looking into them\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade will be working with colleagues in the Department of Enterprise, Tourism and Employment to examine the issues raised.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said the Government \u201cwill continue to work closely with our EU partners to seek maximum impact of sanctions to pressure Russia to stop its illegal war.\u201d<\/p>\n

Belgian minister for foreign affairs Maxime Pr\u00e9vot said the findings were \u201cextremely disturbing\u201d and that Belgium would call for \u201cloopholes\u201d in the sanctions regime to be closed.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe cannot support Ukraine with billions of euros on the one hand, and on the other allow European raw materials to feed the Russian arms industry,\u201d he told the Brussels-based outlet De Tijd, a partner in the investigation.<\/p>\n

Labour Party leader Ivana Bacik called the findings \u201chorrific and shocking\u201d and said she would call on the Taoiseach to institute a review of links between Irish companies and Russia.<\/p>\n

Speaking to the Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs, Oleksandr Oleksandrovych Merezhko, who heads the equivalent committee in Ukraine\u2019s parliament, said the supply of alumina to Russia is \u201ctotally unacceptable\u201d. <\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s why we hope that you will take this into consideration and will do everything you can to stop this from happening.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Two Government departments are to review findings of an Irish Times investigation that highlighted links between Irish-made alumina…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":402250,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[3],"tags":[23999,6055,9,10,4767,18,2219,13,14,6,19,17,9170,9171,11,12,1844,15,16,5765,5,36103,27172,27171,550,7,8,2264,2263],"class_list":["post-402249","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-aughinish-alumina","tag-belgium","tag-breaking-news","tag-breakingnews","tag-dail-eireann","tag-eire","tag-european-union","tag-featured-news","tag-featurednews","tag-headlines","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-ivana-bacik","tag-labour-party","tag-latest-news","tag-latestnews","tag-limerick","tag-main-news","tag-mainnews","tag-micheal-martin","tag-news","tag-patrick-o-donovan","tag-paul-murphy","tag-people-before-profit-solidarity-pbps","tag-russia","tag-top-stories","tag-topstories","tag-ukraine-crisis","tag-vladimir-putin"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/116287045936919023","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/402249","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=402249"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/402249\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/402250"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=402249"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=402249"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=402249"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}