MPs call for curfew on children, alcohol-free zones around schools

Labour MP Adrian Vassallo said in Parliament yesterday that the minimum alcohol drinking age should be higher than 16, which was among the lowest in Europe. He also felt that there should be a curfew on children so that they would not be allowed in places such as Paceville beyond a certain time.

He was speaking in Parliament during the debate on a Bill which sets the minimum alcohol consumption age at 16 and bans the sale or supply of alcohol to children.

Dr Vassallo said the government should explain how and why the threshold was being set at 16.

Malta, he said, was facing a serious problem of alcohol consumption, which included children, because political commitment to tackling the problem had been lacking for far too long. Now Malta had a problem that was difficult to control. How was it that in a year not even one person was booked for selling alcohol to children in Paceville?

Last year alone, 160 girls aged under 16 became pregnant. This meant there was abuse, but even in this case, no one ended up in court.

This country needed proper law enforcement backed by political commitment, and society should be more disciplined in all sectors, whether it was drinking, overcharging or parking in prohibited areas. It was unacceptable that many in society blamed the wardens and the police when they should be blaming themselves for breaking the law.

Everyone did whatever he wanted. There was corruption everywhere including the police force, Customs, the Prime Minister's office, the ADT and Mepa.

How was it that a North African who stole two mobile phones was sentenced to eight months in prison but a Maltese who stole Lm10,000 got away scot free?

Parents too had to shoulder part of the blame. How could some parents allow their children to dress in the way they did, or mix with the wrong company? How could they allow their daughters, 13, to go out with adult boys or stay out late?

In some cases current problems stemmed from the huge increase in single parent families, with the absence of the father figure clearly having an impact, Dr Vassallo said.

And how could the leisure industry campaign for self-regulation when it was the owners of places of entertainment who were responsible for this "disaster" by allowing children into their establishments in the first place?

Some could call him conservative, but he could not understand how everyone was closing an eye or burying his head in the sand. Even the Church was not saying enough.

True, parents could not watch over their children all the time, and in this case the law needed to be enforced. Indeed, he believed that the penalties which this Bill provided for were not tough enough and, if necessary, they should include prison terms. And the owners of places of entertainment should also be sent to hospital to see the harm which alcohol caused to children.

The Bill also laid down the possibility of community service for children convicted of drinking alcohol. But would this come about? Malta lacked a community service organisation, and how would this community service not clash with the children's studies?

Dr Vassallo said he felt there should be a curfew on children particularly in places such as Paceville. He had made this proposal before and been criticised for it, but he knew the majority of society actually agreed. At the same time society should provide for adolescents. One could not jump directly from being a child to being an adult.

Concluding, Dr Vassallo said this was generally a good Bill but he hoped it would be properly enforced.

Earlier, the Opposition spokesman for education, Carmelo Abela, said that the areas around schools should be declared alcohol-free zones and shops there should not be allowed to sell alcohol.

The Labour MP said shop owners who persisted in selling alcohol to children should be liable for tough punishment.

He insisted, however, earlier in his speech, that it was the primary responsibility of parents to care for their children. There was a need for greater awareness of parenting skills and the responsibility of being a parent.

There was no doubt that Malta had a problem, both with regard to children drinking alcohol, and excessive drinking. Alcohol consumption deserved to be given as much importance as smoking and drug-taking.

It was worrying that the number of people treated for alcohol abuse at St Luke's Hospital had gone up again this year compared to last year and the youngest patient was 13 years old, compared to 15 last year.

Mr Abela insisted that this legislation should be backed by strong and fair police law enforcement. There should also be coordination among the various government agencies on education campaigns and such campaigns should be widespread and not restricted to schools.

At the same time one should focus discussion on ways to move young people away from alcohol consumption and towards other activities, such as sports and voluntary work.

Parliamentary Secretary Tony Abela said that although most places of entertainment were out of bounds to people aged under 16, the way the world had changed meant it was now normal for many for 14-year-olds to stay out late and all wanted to be better than their peers. Unfortunately some did that by drinking and this eventually led to problems.

Dr Abela referred to the European Charter on Alcohol and observed that it rightly proposed addressing the problem not just through law enforcement but also through education and awareness on the same pattern as campaigns against smoking.

Unfortunately, in Malta there was a lot of tolerance to drinking. This law would finally draw the line as to who may, or may not drink and who may or may not buy alcohol.

The government should also consider whether to raise the price of alcoholic drinks - without exaggeration - to make it less accessible to young people.

Young people lived under all sort of pressures and they should be helped to deal with them without resorting to drink, Dr Abela said.

Justyne Caruana (MLP) said it was "about time" that this law came before Parliament given the well-known problems which society faced.

This was an issue which the Labour Party had given importance to in its recently-issued document on young people, promising to reinforce or introduce new state structures to help young people avoid alcohol and punish those who led them to abuse.

Dr Caruana underlined the fact that young people were under a lot of stress. Some resorted to alcohol to ease their tensions, thinking it would lead them to forget their problems. Others bowed to peer pressure as part of their fun.

This Bill was being backed by both sides of the House, but the real test would be enforcement, she stressed.

It was unacceptable that children were seen in places of entertainment in the early hours, without anyone being booked. She suggested that the number of breathalyser tests should also be increased.

Dr Caruana also referred to the provisions against children falsely representing their age for the purpose of buying or drinking alcohol and said care should be taken for this part of the Bill not to conflict with legislation on wrongful use of ID cards.

Other speakers will be reported tomorrow. Among them were Parliamentary Secretary Edwin Vassallo and Nationalist MP Michael Asciak who also expressed some doubts over the minimum drinking age at 16. Dr Asciak said that when this law was reviewed, the threshold should be raised to 18.