European Parliament votes to ban export of alumina to Russia as Fianna Fáil MEPs abstain
The Aughinish Alumina plant on the Shannon Estuary near Foynes, Co Limerick. File picture
The European Parliament has voted to call for a full banon the export of alumina to Russia, as Fianna Fáil MEPs opted to abstain.
MEPs backed a non-binding resolution calling for the raw material to be added to the sanctions list, with Fine Gael, Labour, and Sinn Féin MEPs backing the proposal.
Despite Fianna Fáil’s abstention, one party MEP said the Government must consider nationalising the Aughinish Alumina plant in Limerick to prevent exports to Russia.
The call for a ban was submitted as an amendment to a 2025 report on Ukraine’s EU accession progress.
It was not taken as a roll call vote; it was agreed through a show of hands by MEPs. However, the vote itself is non-binding, with the European Commission having the power to decide on future sanctions packages.
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It comes as pressure grows on the Government over the Aughinish Alumina plant, following reports that large quantities of alumina has been sent to Russia for use in building weapons to be used on the frontline against Ukrainian.
Fianna Fáil MEP Barry Andrews defended abstaining from the vote. He said while he agreed the trade of alumina with Russia needed to end, the wording of the amendment was too blunt.
He said it did “not consider the risks to the European supply chain of this critical resource or to the risks to the downstream supply of aluminium to Europe”.
“The amendments also did not recognise that the Irish Government now sees the need for action and is currently investigating Aughinish Alumina,” said Mr Andrews.
“Therefore, in consultation with my Fianna Fáil colleagues, I abstained on these specific amendments.”
Mr Andrews said he is frustrated with the slow pace of the Department of Enterprise investigation into Aughinish Alumina.
“In my view, it is highly likely alumina exported from Ireland is being used in the Russian military and that these exports have increased since 2022. It is also now clearer that the beneficial owner of the company is still a pro-Putin oligarch,” said Mr Andrews.
“If this is confirmed, the Irish Government must urgently work with our EU partners to close off these exports, stop supplying the Russian war machine, and divert the company’s supply chains.
“Nationalisation of the company must be an option, and if needed, the EU must assist in working with international partners in securing the supply of raw material to Aughinish Alumina.”
Fine Gael MEP Seán Kelly said the decision to back the vote was “consistent” with the party’s support of Ukraine.
“It’s a general vote, a general proposal dealing with sanctions in general. The need to ensure there’s proper co-ordination, the need to ensure there’s no circumvention and the need to restrict as much as possible exports to Russia that would feed the war machine,” he said.
“I can’t see anybody who’s pro-Ukraine would actually be against that.”
Mr Kelly said the vote in the European Parliament was not specifically targeting Aughinish Alumina, and if there was a future decision to bar alumina exports to Russia by the commission, new export markets would be found.
He cited efforts by the EU to establish a defence union and increase spending in defence.
“There’s going to be more and more demand for any raw materials that help to build the necessary resources and that means aluminium should be more in demand.”
Sinn Féin MEP Lynn Boylan, who also backed the vote, said it was critical that jobs at the Aughinish Alumna site were protected.
Ms Boylan said if the EU sought to sanction the sale of alumina to Russia, the EU must then become the “alternative customer” for the raw material.
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