Minister for Justice Jim O’Callaghan has said Ireland should not recommend any decisions on Aughinish Alumina, including potential future EU sanctions, until the independent report into the company is published.
Mr O’Callaghan was speaking after figures published today showed the amount of Irish-made alumina sent from the Irish site to Russia more than doubled between February and May, to 90,729 tonnes.
The report in the Irish Independent led to the Ukrainian embassy in Ireland calling for action, and claiming the Co Limerick site is providing “further support to the Russian war economy”.
However, asked about the situation as he arrived at Dublin Castle for an informal meeting of EU Justice and Home Affairs Ministers, Mr O’Callaghan said he and the Government will make no recommendation on Aughinish Alumina until a long-awaited independent report into the matter is published.
“As you know my colleague Minister [for Enterprise Peter] Burke is conducting a review within his department.
“My understanding is that report will be coming out within the next 10 days or so, two weeks, so I think we need to await the outcome of that report.
“We really need to see the hard evidence before we start formulating any conclusions on these matters,” Mr O’Callaghan said.
Asked about whether the company should be included in future EU sanctions if concerns over the provision of alumina to Russia’s army are proven, he added: “I think we need to see evidence. I’m not prepared to make really important decisions or proposals on important decisions without seeing the hard evidence.
“I’m sure Minister Burke is going to bring forward a very detailed report, and once that’s available we’ll give consideration to that.”
The independent report into the Aughinish Alumina site is expected to be published in the coming days, with the Government under significant pressure both to address any potential issues and to protect jobs connected to the company in Ireland.
Speaking in the Dáil, Social Democrats deputy leader Cian O’Callaghan said that the report will fail to offer “any concrete conclusions”.
He said that Government inaction is putting highly skilled jobs “at risk”, with workers having been “left exposed”.
“Hiding behind the unpublished report is not good enough,” he said.
Tánaiste Simon Harris responded by saying that the Government’s decisions will be informed by facts and urged that the team compiling the report be allowed to finish their work, which he expects to be submitted “very, very shortly”.
He said that the work is “ongoing”.
EU urged to ban Russian tourists
Meanwhile, the EU has been urged to introduce a ban on Russian tourists coming to the bloc in response to the ongoing war in Ukraine.
Ministers from Estonia and Lithuania made the call as they arrived at Dublin Castle.
Both nations are based in the Baltics, and have long-standing concerns over Russia after gaining their independence in the early 1990s.
Speaking as he arrived for the informal meeting, Estonia’s interior minister Igor Taro said the situation is not acceptable as “Ukrainians are dying when Russians just come and spend their holiday in Europe”.
He said his country and others in the Baltics believe the situation needs to be addressed immediately, and said: “I think there should be a ban for tourism visas for Russians at least as long as this war is going on, because the Russians are travelling as if nothing has happened.
“That’s what the Kremlin is trying to show the Russians, to say that ‘it’s ok, it’s just some smoke, a special operation, it’s not a big deal and we can do business as usual’. So that’s something we have to end. We have to squeeze Russia really hard.”
