MINISTER OF STATE Niall Collins has said that the ownership structure of a Limerick plant that a Russian oligarch has a 25% share in does not need to change, and stressed the Irish workforce and EU nationals on the board of the plant.

Aughinish Alumina is owned by Russian metals company Rusal and its president Oleg Deripaska is reported to have close ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Deripaska is currently on the US sanctions list from 2018, according to the Guardian, and the UK government announced sanctions against the oligarch last month.

Aughinish Alumina, located near Foynes on the Shannon Estuary, employs 450 people and is a major employer in the mid-west.

Collins, who is a junior minister at a Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science and a TD for Limerick, told RTÉ’s Prime Time that there are only Irish employees at the Limerick plant, and oligarch Oleg Deripaska has never been to Limerick.

“Sanctions have to have an impact in Russia,” Collins said. “The workforce is entirely Irish, the management is entirely Irish, Oleg Deripaska has never been to Limerick, he is a minority shareholder, effectively about 25%,” he said adding that because he is heavily sanctioned, his ownership is “effectively frozen”. 

He said that the board of Aughinish is mostly made up of EU nationals.

We want sanctions to have an impact in the heart of Russia, in the key decision makers around Vladimir Putin.

Minister of State Patrick O’Donovan, who is also a Limerick TD, said it was a local management company running the plant since 1988, and that the plant had changed ownership nationalities many times.

“Ireland Inc cannot do without Aughinish,” he said, referring to the electricity output.

In early March, The Journal reported that Gardaí were investigating a paint attack at the entrance to the Aughinish Alumina plant.

With reporting from Niall O’Connor.