Thomas Pringle TD
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Pringle says Government should consider taking Aughinish plant into public control

Pringle says Government should consider taking Aughinish plant into public control

Independent TD for Donegal, Thomas Pringle, said Government should consider taking the Aughinish Alumina plant in Limerick into public control and out of the hands of oligarchs.

Addressing the Dáil today, Deputy Pringle said: “We appear to be protecting the Aughinish Alumina plant from sanctions. I think that is hypocritical of us.” He said the Government should consider taking it into public control and running it, rather than protecting it from sanctions.

The deputy was speaking today during post-European Council Statements.

Deputy Pringle said: “We must continue to condemn Russia’s bloody and destructive attack on Ukraine at every opportunity we get and I’m glad that this was the main focus of European Council talks.

“We stand with Ukraine and its people and we should continue to condemn Russia at every chance we get. We also must continue to maintain and strengthen our military neutrality at every chance we get as well. Both are not mutually exclusive.

“This is not to say that we are morally neutral in the face of war crimes either, we never have been and we never will be. President Zelenskyy himself, when addressing the Dáil earlier, said ‘although you are a neutral country, you have not remained neutral to the disaster Russia has brought to Ukraine’,” he said.

The deputy said: “Our response has rightly been victim-focused, our role as a neutral voice that condemns violations of international law and supports victims is internationally recognised and it’s important that we continue to protect this neutral voice.”

He welcomed the European Council’s agreement to develop a Ukrainian Solidarity Trust Fund to help provide support to Ukraine for its immediate needs and its reconstruction.

Deputy Pringle said: “I was concerned however, regarding the European Union’s endorsement of the Strategic Compass, which intends to provide a shared assessment of the strategic environment in which the EU is operating and of the threats and challenges the union faces,” he said.

“I know the commission, in conjunction with the European Defence Agency, intends to look at defence investment gaps and introduce initiatives to strengthen the European defence industrial and technology base next month. I think that we need to tread very carefully here in relation to this.

He said: “We need to ensure that our neutrality is not being compromised when such discussions take place. The European Council has stated that they intend to harness EU funding instruments and initiatives to strengthen the defence capabilities of member states. We cannot allow them to rope Ireland into this and we cannot allow them to get involved in the way we conduct our defence forces.

“We must stay strong in our neutrality. We all know in the house that the EU will have willing partners here to weaken our neutrality as well and we need to watch out for that,” he said.

The deputy said: “In terms of energy issues I’m glad to see that national circumstances will be taken into account, and I think that we should look at all the options that are provided for. The government is quick to make the point that they cannot act on VAT on energy costs. That may be so.”

However, he said the commission pointed out options that are available from the commission, such as ‘temporary taxation of or regulatory interventions on windfall profits’.

Deputy Pringle said: “We have been constantly led to believe that VAT is the only game in town, but we see now that it isn’t.”