Authorities in Ukraine and Sweden have shared information with the Irish Government as part of its review into whether Aughinish Alumina breached EU sanctions on Russia. The Government is still waiting for the Central Statistics Office (CSO) and Revenue to “verify” figures from the Limerick plant, to confirm what proportion of Irish alumina is exported to Russia. Last week, Minister for Enterprise Peter Burke said he expected the report being compiled by his department to be ready within 10 days. Speaking on Tuesday, he said he was “still expecting” that timeline to hold. The review is being led by Burke’s department but the Minister said it also involves the Department of Foreign Affairs and the Central Bank – each of which is a competent authority to investigate and enforce sanctions imposed by the European Union. The investigation follows the publication of an Irish Times investigation earlier this year, which detailed how the Co Limerick plant was exporting vast quantities of raw material to smelters in Russia, which is sold to a company that supplies aluminium to Russian arms manufacturers. Burke said the investigation was being carried out independently of him. “I haven’t the authority to go in and tell competent experts when they should conclude their data. I expect it will be shortly,” he said. Earlier on Tuesday, Minister for Foreign Affairs Helen McEntee said the report was almost finished when additional information was made available to the Government from the Ukrainian embassy. McEntee told RTÉ Radio 1’s Morning Ireland programme that the review “had been ready recently but as I said, there was further information provided”. Burke confirmed that “further information has come in from the Ukrainian authorities, and we’ve also been working with the Swedish authorities”. He declined to elaborate on what information or evidence Ukraine had shared with the Government. From the Shannon to Siberia: How alumina from a Limerick refinery enters Russia’s weapons supply chainAughinish 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.“With respect, I can’t go into evidence because it’s an independent inquiry, and for me to start looking at pieces and submissions into that inquiry would be totally inappropriate. It’s independent of me, and my officials in due course will give me the report, of which then I will obviously discuss with Government leaders and have a strong discussion with the commission,” Burke said. He could not commit to publishing the report, he explained, as it may contain “sensitive data” and he would need to consult the Office of the Attorney General before making it publicly available. It emerged earlier this year that export figures initially shared by Aughinish Alumina with the CSO were wrong. According to the original figures, 83 per cent of Irish alumina went to Russia in the first quarter of this year, with 0.6 per cent going to the EU. The plant claimed, however, that the true figure was about 45 per cent, with another 45 per cent going to the EU and other countries. Burke said Aughinish Alumina “has co-operated with the department”. Burke also clarified that Aughinish Alumina would not meet the high threshold required for the plant to be nationalised. “The current [legal] advice I have before me is that the threshold it would have to reach for nationalisation would be pretty significant, and that threshold has not been reached,” Burke said, adding that the “threshold is very high for property rights, and you can’t just sequester someone’s property as a State”.“So that is firmly off the table. I want to be very clear on that.”This week John Moran, the Mayor of Limerick, wrote to the Taoiseach and Tánaiste asking the Government to set up a dedicated forum to support Aughinish Alumina workers and the wider community, who Moran said were now facing “uncertainty” about the future of the plant. Burke said on Tuesday he intended to respond to Moran and was “happy to discuss with him at any time”, but the Minister believed that committing to such a forum before he has seen the report would be premature.