{"id":529456,"date":"2026-07-02T13:54:08","date_gmt":"2026-07-02T13:54:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/529456\/"},"modified":"2026-07-02T13:54:08","modified_gmt":"2026-07-02T13:54:08","slug":"aughinish-alumina-harris-not-involved-in-any-conversations-on-nationalisation-of-plant-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/529456\/","title":{"rendered":"Aughinish Alumina: Harris \u2018not involved in any conversations\u2019 on nationalisation of plant \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

T\u00e1naiste and Minister for Finance Simon Harris<\/a> said he has not been \u201cinvolved in any conversations\u201d about the State nationalising Aughinish Alumina<\/a>, in the event of sanctions cutting off its exports to Russia<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Speaking on Thursday, Harris said Ireland\u2019s position supporting Ukraine<\/a> in resisting Russia\u2019s \u201cdespicable\u201d invasion was clear. <\/p>\n

It was obvious that economic sanctions were the best way to put \u201cmaximum\u201d pressure\u201d on Russian leader Vladimir Putin<\/a>, he said. <\/p>\n

The Government did not want to be seen to \u201ccherry pick\u201d its approach to EU sanctions aimed at limiting Putin\u2019s ability to wage war. <\/p>\n

The Government opened an investigation into Aughinish Alumina, based in the Shannon estuary, following disclosures in The Irish Times that it was exporting vast amounts of alumina, the raw material for aluminium, which ends up in a supply chain that supplies Russia\u2019s military industry.<\/p>\n

That Department of Enterprise investigation into Aughinish Alumina was \u201cnearing completion\u201d, Harris said.<\/p>\n

The Government would respond to its findings in tandem with the European Commission, the EU executive that proposes sanctions. <\/p>\n

\u201cI haven\u2019t been involved in any conversations about nationalisation, that\u2019s the truth,\u201d he said when asked about Aughinish.<\/p>\n

Previously Aughinish and alumina had been kept from successive rounds of economic sanctions targeting Russia and limiting its ability to continue its war in Ukraine, largely because the Irish plant also supplies significant amounts of the key material to European industry. <\/p>\n

Speaking on Thursday morning to a group of Brussels-based journalists visiting Ireland at the start of its EU presidency, Harris said he didn\u2019t see the problem as a \u201cbinary choice\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere has to be ways of addressing issues that enable crucial supply chains to continue into the European Union … but [ensure] there\u2019s no indirect assistance in any means, to this regime in relation to the war,\u201d the Fine Gael leader said.<\/p>\n

Swedish authorities have determined that Rusal<\/a>, the metals giant that owns the refinery in Co Limerick, remains under the control of sanctioned oligarch Oleg Deripaska, The Irish Times reported on Thursday.<\/p>\n

The ruling from Skatteverket, Sweden\u2019s tax authority, states that all of Rusal\u2019s operation in Europe \u2013 a group that includes the Irish plant \u2013 should be subject to EU sanctions targeting Russia that would include the freezing of assets.<\/p>\n

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

\"occrpAughinish Alumina in Co Limerick supplies vast amounts of raw materials to Russian aluminium smelters, according to an investigation by The Irish Times and the Organised Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP).Read the full investigation here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy appealed to the Government to cut off the supply of raw materials to Russia produced in the plant. <\/p>\n

Speaking during a visit to Dublin<\/a> on Wednesday marking the beginning of Ireland\u2019s EU presidency, Mr Zelenskiy warned that \u201cevery tonne\u201d of vital raw material shipped to Russia was being used against the Ukrainian people in Moscow\u2019s war. <\/p>\n

He discussed the issue in a private meeting with Taoiseach Miche\u00e1l Martin, and later appealed to the Government to cut off the supply of raw materials to Russia produced in the Co Limerick facility.<\/p>\n

During Leaders\u2019 Questions in the D\u00e1il, Social Democrats<\/a> deputy leader Cian O\u2019Callaghan<\/a> raised The Irish Times investigation into Aughinish Alumina and asked the T\u00e1naiste \u201chow much evidence do you need?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe foot dragging by the Irish Government is in sharp contrast to the Australians,\u201d he said. \u201cThey didn\u2019t need to conduct any investigation before they acted back in 2022. <\/p>\n

\u201cAs soon as Putin invaded Ukraine, they banned all exports of alumina to Russia. They didn\u2019t want to be complicit in the murder of men, women, and children in Ukraine. More than four years later, as exports of alumina from Ireland to Russia have at least doubled, your Government is still burying its head in the sand and refusing to do what everybody knows is needed. You need to ban the export of alumina to Russia.\u201d <\/p>\n

In response, the T\u00e1naiste said \u201cwe do need to establish the facts in relation to Aughinish Alumina\u201d and that Zelenskiy \u201cunderstands that and appreciates the work that is being carried out\u201d. <\/p>\n

Harris said the Government\u2019s investigation was \u201cnearing finalisation\u201d and it was \u201cestablishing the facts\u201d. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe have received information from a variety of sources, including the Ukrainian government. We\u2019re plugged in with the European Commission. That information is now being stress tested. I expect it to come to a conclusion very shortly,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ll keep the European Commission fully briefed, and ultimately it will be the European Commission, not the Irish Government, that will decide whether to propose sanctions or not to propose sanctions on a company or indeed any individual.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"T\u00e1naiste and Minister for Finance Simon Harris said he has not been \u201cinvolved in any conversations\u201d about the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":440077,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[61,60,7038,43],"class_list":["post-529456","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ireland","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-irish-politics","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/529456","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=529456"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/529456\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/440077"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=529456"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=529456"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=529456"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}