OLE

At school I always did very well in languages and one of my favourite languages is Spanish. It is a pity that our government people had problems to communicate with the Spanish company Helcopteros del Sureste regarding the provision of helicopter service between Gozo and Malta .

From the contradictory versions we heard so far, one would naturally conclude that there was a communication problem – a different language which acted as a barrier maybe! Anyway whatever the reason, I was flabergasted to hear Minister Censu Galea’s replies to my questions in Parliament. When I submitted my questions, the Spanish had already left but Minister Galea said that bookings for helicopter trips were still being accepted. He also declared on One News that he was not informed that the helicopter people left. This contradicts by far what Prime Minister and Minister for Gozo declared!

All this seems like the spanish traditional paella or our local ‘stuffat’ where everybody drops in what he deems fit. The problem is that nobody seems to take responsibilty for what happened and in the meantime lovely Gozo has no helicopter link. It is useless for our Cabinet Ministers to play toreros and try to chase the helicopteros.

The only possibbly way is subsidy. We from Labour side have already worked on this and it is the only viable and sustainable way to have an airlink between the islands. As soon as Labour is in Government, helicopter service will be subsidised to guarantee an efficient and stable service for the benefit of the tourism industry and Gozo at large. That’s how you take the bull by the horns. Ole`.