2001 Cabinet memo legalised St Helen's Fireworks Factory

The Cabinet had directly intervened in 2001 to bypass regulations that would have forced the closure of the fireworks factory that exploded two weeks ago in Gharghur, it has emerged from an Ombudsman's report.

The regulations would have also made illegal a neighbouring fireworks factory. Both the St Helen factory, where the explosion killing five people took place, and Briffa factory are situated 130 metres short of the legally-recommended safe distance from public roads and inhabited areas.

The law regulating fireworks factories, the Explosives Ordinance, provides for a 183-metre safety buffer from any inhabited place or street that is "used regularly". Yet, the factories are located less than 50 metres from the road that connects Naxxar with Ta' l-Ibrag.

After an explosion at the Briffa factory in 2000, which caused partial explosions at St Helen's, the Cabinet regularised the position of the factories through a memo that rendered the road next to the factories a "private road", reserved exclusively for "farmers, residents and fireworks factory employees".

This, according to the Ombudsman's report, means that the street in question is "used as irregularly as possible", making the factories legal.

Had the situation remained as it was, the Ombudsman's report further notes, "the authorities responsible for licensing the firework factories... would risk falling foul with the Explosives Ordinance..."

The factories have been in the same position since 1982, but have not become any more safe. A woman who was driving past the St Helen factory when it exploded on June 27, had a close shave when the roof of her car was ripped off by flying debris.

Moreover, the same factory sits back-to-back with an inhabited villa, which was badly damaged by the blasts.

The villa was built before the fireworks factories were located there. But the Explosives Ordinance defines an "inhabited place" as a group of houses "capable of being inhabited by 100 people". The villas in the area are sparse and do not fit this category.

The Ombudsman was twice asked to look into the matter, in 2002 and 2006. In the 2002 report, the police, who are legally entrusted with issuing licences for the factories, said they were satisfied that they were "lawfully sited".

The Times sought the comments of Home Affairs Minister Tonio Borg, both as the minister responsible for the police and as a member of the Cabinet, but questions forwarded to the minister remained unanswered.