{"id":583022,"date":"2026-07-13T08:19:15","date_gmt":"2026-07-13T08:19:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/583022\/"},"modified":"2026-07-13T08:19:15","modified_gmt":"2026-07-13T08:19:15","slug":"alumina-may-very-well-be-on-next-list-of-sanctioned-exports-to-russia-minister-says-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/583022\/","title":{"rendered":"Alumina \u2018may very well\u2019 be on next list of sanctioned exports to Russia, Minister says \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Alumina<\/a> \u201cmay very well\u201d be included on the next list of sanctioned European Union<\/a> exports to Russia<\/a>, a Minister has said. <\/p>\n

The Government<\/a> is under pressure to clarify Aughinish Alumina\u2019s<\/a> role in supplying key raw materials to Russia, with the findings of a Department of Enterprise<\/a> investigation into the matter due later this month. <\/p>\n

Concerns were raised following the publication of an Irish Times investigation<\/a> earlier this year, which detailed how the Co Limerick plant was exporting vast quantities of raw material to smelters in Russia, which is sold to a company that supplies aluminium to Russian arms manufacturers. <\/p>\n

Minister for Higher and Further Education James Lawless<\/a> on Sunday said the Coalition was taking the matter \u201cextremely seriously\u201d. He said Ireland had provided \u201cstalwart support\u201d to Ukraine<\/a> since Russia\u2019s invasion in 2022.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere have been 20 packages of sanctions imposed by the European Union on Russian-linked goods,\u201d he told RT\u00c9\u2019s The Week in Politics, adding that alumina had not featured in any of those.<\/p>\n

\u201cNow, it may very well in the next round, but it\u2019s not a military product, it\u2019s not a dual-use product, it\u2019s an industrial product that is used among other things in medical devices, electronics [and] industrial smelters.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lawless noted that the EU uses 40 per cent of the alumina produced by the Co Limerick<\/a> plant, adding: \u201cWe don\u2019t want to cut off our nose to spite our face.\u201d <\/p>\n

EU governments are negotiating the block\u2019s next round of sanctions, which need to be unanimously approved, with another batch of measures to be proposed afterwards, likely during Ireland\u2019s presidency of the Council of the European Union. <\/p>\n

The European Parliament last week voted in favour<\/a> of a non-binding motion to ban alumina exports to Russia. Such a step would seriously curtail Aughinish\u2019s business.<\/p>\n

A ban on alumina exports to Russia has been pushed for behind the scenes by the Estonian government, with an expectation that the European Commission<\/a> will re-examine the possibility of proposing sanctions targeting that trade after the Department of Enterprise\u2019s inquiry is published. <\/p>\n

The mayor of Limerick, John Moran<\/a>, has written to the Government calling for a \u201cco-ordinated forum\u201d to be established in his office to plan the future of the operation, which is located outside the city on the Shannon estuary. On Sunday he said he had not yet received a response to his letter.<\/p>\n

Moran told RT\u00c9 Radio\u2019s This Week programme that Ireland should not be \u201cpushed\u201d into a decision on the future of the plant by the EU. He said people in Limerick were not confident that the voice of workers at the plant, as well as its suppliers, was being heard. <\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s the hard part, making sure that part of the equation is heard and we\u2019re not just, like, pushed into some decision by the European Union,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

From the Shannon to Siberia: How alumina from a Limerick refinery enters Russia\u2019s weapons supply chain<\/p>\n

\"occrp<\/p>\n