More than 80 per cent of Irish-made alumina went to Russia in the first quarter of this year, by far the highest amount since Moscow\u2019s invasion of Ukraine in 2022.<\/p>\n
It comes as Taoiseach Miche\u00e1l Martin argued that sanctioning Aughinish Alumina<\/a>, the only producer of alumina in Ireland, would cause more harm to the European Union than to Russia amid calls for sanctions from Europe<\/p>\n The Russian company extensively lobbied the Government, warning of the risk to employment at its plant in Co Limerick since the invasion of Ukraine in 2022.<\/p>\n [\u00a0EU sanctions on Russian-owned Aughinish Alumina would be \u2018self-defeating, says TaoiseachOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n Register of Lobbying records show the company <\/a>declared similar representations made to senior politicians and officials on 10 occasions over the last four years, including earlier this year.<\/p>\n The scale of its lobbying emerged as Aughinish <\/a>issued a fresh warning to the Government on Thursday of \u201cpotential unintended consequences\u201d of possible trade restrictions as the EU considers new sanctions against Russia.<\/p>\n Figures obtained by The Irish Times show that for the first three months of this year, 83 per cent of all alumina exports from the Republic <\/a>\u2013 200,619 tonnes \u2013 went to Russia.<\/p>\n Just 143 tonnes, or 0.6 per cent of the total alumina exports from the Republic this year, went to EU states. The remaining 40,000 tonnes went to other non-EU countries.<\/p>\n RT\u00c9 reported on Thursday night that Aughinish \u2013 owned by Russian metals giant Rusal <\/a>\u2013 was not expected to be included in the next round of sanctions being drawn up by the European Commission due to the knock-on effect such restrictions would have on European industry.<\/p>\n In March, an Irish Times investigation, carried out in co-operation with the Organised Crime and Corruption Reporting Project and published, found that Aughinish\u2019s Co Limerick plant is shipping vast amounts of alumina to smelters in Russia<\/a>, where it is used to make aluminium, which is then sold to a trading company, ASK, that supplies dozens of Russian arms manufacturers.<\/p>\n The company has insisted it complies with \u201call applicable European Union laws, including sanctions, export control measures and trade regulations\u201d.<\/p>\n Martin yesterday said imposing sanctions on products exported by Aughinish to Russia would be \u201cself-defeating\u201d and would harm the European economy more than it would Russian president Vladimir Putin\u2019s regime.<\/p>\n Asked if the Government had lobbied the EU on behalf of Aughinish<\/a>, he said it had \u201cengaged\u201d on the matter.<\/p>\n \u201cLobbying is probably too strong a word, but we do discuss it as all member states do when it comes to packages in relation to sanctions.\u201d<\/p>\n T\u00e1naiste Simon Harris said the State \u201ccan\u2019t cherry-pick\u201d sanctions that might be costly to it.<\/p>\n Asked if he believed alumina produced by Aughinish in Limerick <\/a>is being used to produce weapons used against Ukraine, Harris replied: \u201cI note the clear view of the company is that that is not the case, but I also believe in not just trusting, but also verifying.\u201d<\/p>\n The Department of Enterprise is carrying out its own investigation, he said, adding it was \u201cimportant they do that to establish facts\u201d. Minister for Enterprise Peter Burke said last weekend this investigation was being finalised.<\/p>\n Aughinish made fresh contact with the Government this week, raising concern about the prospect of sanctions.<\/p>\n