A Government Minister has claimed he has “no information” to show that a Co Limerick plant is exporting to Russia alumina that is being turned into weapons that are killing Ukrainian people. Minister for Enterprise Peter Burke contested official figures that indicate Aughinish Alumina, the only producer of alumina in Ireland, exported more than 80 per cent of its alumina in the first quarter of this year. Burke claimed that figures provided by the plant to the Central Statistics Office, and reported by this newspaper on Saturday, were wrong. In March, an Irish Times investigation, carried out in co-operation with the Organised Crime and Corruption Reporting Project and published, found that Aughinish’s Co Limerick plant was shipping vast amounts of alumina to smelters in Russia, where it is used to make aluminium, which is then sold to a trading company, ASK, that supplies dozens of Russian arms manufacturers. This prompted calls to consider imposing sanctions on the plant. Aughinish Alumina last week warned Ministers that a sanction could cause “potential unintended consequences” including an EU-wide shortage of alumina, damage to employment in Limerick and the midwest and a negative impact on Ireland’s electricity grid. Last week, it also emerged that Aughinish was not expected to be included in the next round of sanctions being drawn up by the European Commission due to the knock-on effect such restrictions would have on European industry.On RTÉ Radio 1’s Morning Ireland on Tuesday, Burke was asked whether he accepted it was likely that alumina exported from Ireland to Russia was being used to make weapons to kill Ukrainian people. “I have no information to suggest [that] at this point in time,” Burke said. He said his department was carrying out an “investigation” into Aughinish Alumina, the findings of which would be shared with the European Commission, “which makes a decision”. Burke said his department was doing a “deep dive” to ensure it was not the case that Aughinish was exporting alumina that was being turned into weapons for Russia. The Minister admitted the Irish Government would need “boots on the ground” in Russia to know with precision where Irish-made alumina was ending up. He said alumina was not a dual-use product that was under sanction at the moment, and said it was a “critical raw material” for the EU. Burke claimed the official figures indicating that more than 80 per cent of Irish-made alumina was being exported to Russia were “not correct”. [ At least 10 killed in Russian attack on UkraineOpens in new window ]Figures obtained by The Irish Times indicate that for the first three months of this year, 83 per cent of all alumina exports from the Republic – 200,619 tonnes – went to Russia. Burke said Aughinish had since come forward to the Government to claim that “inaccurate data was given to the CSO in terms of the tonnage that was being exported”.“They’re now rectifying that with the CSO through our department, but our investigation will ascertain essentially what this product is doing and where it’s going.”Burke added that “the 80 per cent figure is not accurate in terms of what product has been exported ... My understanding is it’s 45 per cent to the EU and other countries, and 45 per cent to Russia". Taoiseach Micheál Martin had argued that sanctioning Aughinish Alumina would cause more harm to the European Union than to Russia amid calls for sanctions from Europe. The Russian company extensively lobbied the Government, warning of the risk to employment at its plant in Co Limerick since the invasion of Ukraine in 2022.Register of Lobbying records show the company declared similar representations made to senior politicians and officials on 10 occasions over the last four years, including earlier this year.