Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions
Dail Éireann — 2026-06-11
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Peter Burke (FG), Longford-Westmeath

I thank Deputy Cian O'Callaghan for his very important question. I fully share the concern he has raised. That is why we have set about conducting an investigation in the Department of enterprise to impartially ascertain the evidence, working with the European Commission and the Swedish authorities, which came forward with additional evidence in the past ten days. We are also working with Aughinish Alumina to try to ascertain the truth. We will get to the bottom of the supply chain. We will need assurances that it is a concealed supply chain.
Ireland has supported every sanctions package in a European context against Russia, which is the aggressor in this case. That is a total of 21 packages we have fully supported. We have been very much to the fore as a country in supporting Ukraine, be it with the very significant €90 billion support loan we were part of underwriting in a European context, supporting Ukraine with non-lethal aid, giving it spare parts for its grid, welcoming so many Ukrainians here to Ireland and also providing more than 14,000 school places to support them at that very difficult time in their history. That is why I am very clear in the first instance that we must have a robust investigation here. We are working very closely with the European Commission.
Aughinish Alumina was established in Ireland around 1986. It is the largest supplier of alumina in Europe. There are a few important facts to set out in the first instance to understand the trajectory. First, alumina is a critical raw material. It is relied upon for so many parts by every economy, including Europe, for medical devices, the automotive industry, electric vehicles and the food sector.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-06-11/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-09-14T01:01:05+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-06-11