Russian-linked alumina refinery puts Ireland under pressure over Ukraine stance

A Russian-linked alumina refinery on Ireland's west coast has become the centre of a political dispute over Ukraine, exports to Russia and local jobs.

The Aughinish Alumina industrial complex, on the Shannon estuary in County Limerick, employs about 500 people. The plant is owned by Russian aluminium company Rusal. Swedish tax authorities recently concluded that Rusal remains under the control of sanctioned oligarch Oleg Deripaska.

The dispute has led to calls for Ireland to stop alumina exports to Russia. Alumina exports are not currently covered by European Union sanctions. Production at Aughinish began in 1983, and the company says the plant produces about 1.9 million tonnes of alumina a year.

Scrutiny increased after a March investigation by the Irish Times and the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project alleged that raw material shipped from Aughinish to Russia was processed into aluminium sold to a Moscow-based trader supplying Russian arms manufacturers.

Irish Enterprise Minister Peter Burke said on Friday that a government probe had found no adverse findings against the refinery. He said, however, that investigators could not determine where alumina was traded after it entered Russia because of a lack of internal Russian trade data.

Official Irish data published earlier this month showed that half of the refinery's alumina exports in the first quarter went to Russia, up from 43 percent last year. Another 40 percent went to the EU.

Ukraine's embassy in Dublin said the exports raise concerns that economic activity from Ireland could help sustain Russia's war effort. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, speaking in Kyiv on Thursday alongside Irish Prime Minister Micheal Martin, said it was important to ensure that Russia's war receives no support.

The issue has exposed tension between Ireland's strong political support for Ukraine and its lack of intervention at one of Europe's last major Russian-linked industrial assets. Ireland is militarily neutral and says it is fully committed to sanctions against Russia.

Opposition lawmaker Patricia Stephenson said the government's position was increasingly hard to reconcile and called for the exports to be banned. She said ministers should work with the EU to find alternative markets for the refinery's alumina and prepare contingency plans, including looking at nationalisation if needed.

Irish ministers have stressed the refinery's strategic importance as a major employer in rural western Ireland and as a supplier to aluminium smelters in Sweden and France, which in turn supply European heavy industry.

Aughinish said on Friday that its alumina had no connection to the Russian military supply chain. The company said it would order independent third-party verification by a global company to monitor alumina flows from Aughinish and later exports out of Russia.

In Foynes, a village across the estuary from the refinery where a port handles its exports, local businessman John Cassels said people did not want local jobs lost but should not be sending the material to Russia. Limerick city mayor John Moran estimated that between 2,000 and 3,000 people in the region depend directly or indirectly on the refinery. He said alternative markets would be needed if products were reaching Russia and being used for harmful purposes.

The European Parliament has adopted a non-binding resolution calling for an end to EU alumina exports to Russia. The Irish government's findings will be shared with the European Commission before any decision on further action.

Foreign policy analyst Edward Burke of University College Dublin said the controversy showed a failure by Ireland to respond earlier to sanctions issues. He noted that Australia banned alumina exports to Russia and sanctioned Deripaska weeks after Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine.