{"id":591800,"date":"2026-08-13T07:46:12","date_gmt":"2026-08-13T07:46:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/591800\/"},"modified":"2026-08-13T07:46:12","modified_gmt":"2026-08-13T07:46:12","slug":"limerick-mayor-john-moran-wanted-to-avoid-taking-hard-position-on-aughinish-alumina-emails-show-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/591800\/","title":{"rendered":"Limerick mayor John Moran wanted to avoid taking \u2018hard position\u2019 on Aughinish Alumina, emails show \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Limerick<\/a> mayor John Moran<\/a> privately said a high-profile intervention he made on the future of Aughinish Alumina<\/a> was a \u201cclever way\u201d to avoid taking a \u201chard position\u201d on the issue.<\/p>\n

Last month, as the Government<\/a> prepared to publish the findings of an inquiry into exports of alumina from the plant to Russia<\/a>, Moran wrote to Taoiseach Miche\u00e1l Martin<\/a> and Minister for Enterprise Peter Burke<\/a> asking them to convene a forum amid uncertainty over the future of the facility. <\/p>\n

Emails released to The Irish Times under freedom-of-information laws show Moran told an external communications consultant he thought the idea of calling for a forum was a \u201cvery clever way for me not to have to take a hard position, but to take a leadership role locally\u201d. <\/p>\n

Discussing the communications strategy around the letters to Government, Moran told consultancy firm Q4 that he didn\u2019t expect a lot of coverage, but added: \u201cI see it as a defensive mechanism mainly. Good thinking councillors on Monday at the [council] meeting would come attacking me saying I have done nothing.\u201d<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Limerick mayor calls for intensive Irish lobbying against EU sanctions on Aughinish AluminaOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

It\u2019s understood Q4 is acting on a short-term basis with the local authority.<\/p>\n

Moran was wary that councillors \u2013 some of whom he has been engaged in political battles with during his term \u2013 \u201cmight even pass a motion asking me to do something and I look like I am quietly sitting back or only jumping because they said it\u201d.<\/p>\n

The former civil servant-turned-politician asked Martin and Burke to establish a forum under the legislation governing his office, which would bring together staff, management, trade unions and other stakeholders seeking \u201cbetter communication\u201d on the next steps at Aughinish. <\/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

The emails show Moran was anxious to push the news of his letter out on a Friday, but the communications firm counselled he should instead aim for the Sunday newspapers and later broadcast interviews.<\/p>\n

\u201cWouldn\u2019t waste your sweetness mayor on a hot desert Friday as will get lost in the ice creams of this weather. Timing is everything in my view\u201d, he was told. <\/p>\n

The emails show the firm advised Moran that \u201cmany companies in Europe supply to Russia but they are not being attacked on all fronts and don\u2019t have the scale of attack ranged against them as Aughinish does\u201d.<\/p>\n

It suggested that Rusal<\/a>, the conglomerate that owns the plant, \u201cmay most likely wind it down\u201d if the export of alumina was sanctioned by Europe, sending the vital raw material bauxite to other facilities in its network.<\/p>\n

Moran was also advised that he would be asked if he had lobbied on behalf of the plant: \u201cHe can say he has not, but has spoken to local workers and local management, not Russians\u201d, the firm told his office, arguing there was a need for \u201ccool heads in this at Government too\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe shouldn\u2019t let the pressure of the EU presidency get to us,\u201d he was told, while being advised to take a \u201csophisticated\u201d approach. <\/p>\n

The firm warned Aughinish was as important to the region as other firms in recent decades that closed or shifted manufacturing abroad.<\/p>\n

If Aughinish closed, it said: \u201cIt will be a car crash and will dominate the summer, cancelling holiday material I would expect.\u201d<\/p>\n

Moran and Q4 did not provide comment when contacted.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Limerick mayor John Moran privately said a high-profile intervention he made on the future of Aughinish Alumina was…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":546081,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[61,60,7038,43],"class_list":["post-591800","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\/591800","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=591800"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/591800\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/546081"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=591800"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=591800"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=591800"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}