Nationalist MP David Agius yesterday referred to the murder of Swedish Foreign Minister Anna Lindh and said one should consider the security of Maltese MPs if they were to speak freely without the risk of threats or worse.

Speaking in parliament at the adjournment of the morning sitting, Mr Agius said it was not enough to say that MPs were protected by parliamentary privilege. Indeed, one should consider the removal of parliamentary privilege as MPs should only make their remarks responsibly after proper study, but at the other end of the scale, one should consider the security of MPs. Must one have a repetition here of what happened in Sweden before action was taken?

Mr Agius said he was also of the view that Malta should have full-time MPs who were able to concentrate all their attention on their parliamentary duties, more so since EU accession meant a heavier parliamentary workload.

But MPs also needed proper support facilities in the House, including offices where they could meet constituents.

Mr Agius referred to the sermon by Archbishop Joseph Mercieca on Sunday when he underlined the value of the family. He said that children formed part of the family too, and he therefore felt that when MPs and their spouses were invited for official functions, their children should, as far as possible, be invited too.

Nationalist MP Mario Galea said he agreed on the need for full-time MPs. He also insisted that facilities for MPs at the House of Representatives needed to be improved. The situation was such that even getting a photocopier to work was a problem.

He said there was an urgent need for the recruitment of parliamentary staff because existing staff had been overworked for far too long and they could not even hope of handling the workload in the future.

Mr Galea said that in some cases, facilities for MPs were actually being reduced. MIA, for example, appeared to have withdrawn assistance for MPs going abroad, and there had been MPs who were kept waiting in queues for a long time. This meant that MPs, even when travelling on official duties, had to go to the airport very early. He intended to write to the Speaker to formally protest.

It was bad enough, Mr Galea said, that MPs had no one to ferry them to the airport whereas civil servants, rightly, were picked up or dropped off by a driver.

Surely the people's representatives deserved to be treated as well as senior civil servants.