People living near Russian-owned Aughinish Alumina in Co Limerick defended the plant, despite the reported links between the alumina it produces and dozens of Russian weapons manufacturers.
Locals who spoke included those who publicly represent some of the plant’s staff.
“It’s a case of do you eat the egg or do you choke the chicken?” said local former special branch detective and recently retired Fianna Fáil councillor Kevin Sheahan.
Sheahan remains an outspoken activist in his native Askeaton, which is located a short distance from the red bauxite mud plains that surround the alumina facility.
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From the Shannon to Siberia: How alumina from a Limerick refinery enters Russia’s weapons supply chain
- Aughinish 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.
The Irish Times, in a joint investigation with the Organised Crime and Corruption Reporting Project, found links between alumina exported from Aughinish and Russian smelting plants supplying a Moscow-based trading company that, in turn, supplies Russia’s military machine in its war against Ukraine.
About 1,000 people are directly and indirectly employed at Aughinish, with about 500 staff working at the plant.
“We can’t stop these things. If they weren’t shipping the alumina, the plant wouldn’t be functioning, and the employment wouldn’t be here and it wouldn’t be beneficial to anybody,” Sheahan said.
He spoke fondly of Ukrainian families who fled Russia’s invasion and for whom he helped secure accommodation in west Limerick.
Asked how he balanced concerns for those families with links between Aughinish and the Russia military supply chain, he said “It’s a fair question” but argued that the source of the alumina was irrelevant.
“If the plant in Askeaton couldn’t export it any more, it would be exported [from] someplace else,” he said.
“The people in Askeaton or Ireland didn’t declare war on anybody, and you wouldn’t find anybody here wishing the war to go any place other than to finish.
“We are concerned that the war is continuing and there are people dying.”
He described the links between Aughinish and Russia’s military supply chain, as detailed in The Irish Times investigation, as “disappointing”.
Sheahan and other locals, including business owners who did not wish to speak publicly, said the investigation was “not a red-hot issue” among locals.
Publican Adam Teskey, who represents the area as an elected Fine Gael councillor, said that although he did not support Russia’s war in Ukraine, he did support the continued exportation of alumina from the Rusal plant, which is part-owned by Russian oligarch Oleg Derepeska, who has close ties with Russian leader Vladimir Putin and the Kremlin.
“The majority of people I represent are employed by Aughinish. It’s a very valued employer and a local taxpayer that contributes enormous amounts of money to the area which I represent,” said Teskey.
He and others in the Shannon estuary zone were quick to point out that a second big local employer – Wyeth Nutritionals Ireland in Askeaton, an infant formula manufacturer owned by Nestlé – is closing its doors at the end of this month with the loss of 542 jobs.
“Wyeth’s closure has an added emphasis on the jobs at Aughinish,” said Teskey.
“Aughinish has put bread and butter on a lot of people’s plates and its staff have been able to raise families, pay for education and mortgages and contribute back to our local exchequer.”
“I think it would be very unfair that there would be any castigation or aspersions made or said that these people are having anything to do with the contribution to a war effort so far away from west Limerick.
“They are not making bullets in Aughinish and that has to be reasserted – and it has to be made crystal clear – that none of the people that I represent are in any way aiding or abetting in a war effort over in Ukraine,” said Teskey.
“The war is going on far too long and there needs to be a stop put to it, but we have to get real; we cannot govern where our exported product is going to end up.”
[ The Irish Times view on Aughinish Alumina: revelations pose urgent questionsOpens in new window ]
Local Fianna Fáil TD Niall Collins said: “It is important to emphasise that Aughinish Alumina is not the subject of EU sanctions, nor has it been proposed to be.
“Alumina is not a sanctioned good, therefore its export to other countries, including Russia, is not restricted.”
Collins said the Government had “consistently supported strong sanctions in response to Russia’s illegal aggression, particularly in the context of shifting global supply chains and procurement networks.
“We will continue to work closely with our EU partners in doing so,” he said.
Patrick O’Donovan, local Fine Gael TD and a Government Minister, was not available for comment.
