The Opera House saga

Peter Apap Bologna tells us that the Prime Minister's decision to build Parliament on the old Opera House site makes the most eminent sense. He wishes to put an end to the nostalgic desire to rebuild the opera house.

We live in a free world and everyone is entitled to his or her views, so let me beg to differ from Mr Apap Bologna and say that it makes the most eminent nonsense.

Fr Peter Serracino Inglott was absolutely right when he said that the Prime Minister had been ill-advised by whoever gave him the reasons put forward. The Prime Minister said that the footprint of the opera house was too small for present-day productions. Where opera is concerned, I don't know what he means. A look at the One Hundred Years Ago in The Times shows that just about every opera one can think of was performed at the Royal Opera House - no footprint problems there!

He goes on to say that we have three theatres in Valletta and lists the Manoel, the MCC and St James Cavalier. The Prime Minister must have said this with tongue in cheek.

St James Cavalier is barely large enough to swing a cat and should be dismissed outright.

The Mediterranean Conference Centre is nothing more than a conference hall and has none of the facilities of a modern-day Opera House. As for the Manoel Theatre, quite apart from not having suitable backroom facilities, the sheer smallness of the stage severely restricts the opera that could be performed there. All this has already been amply explained by our Joseph Calleja and you cannot ask for a better authority.

Over the years, governments have spoken about "going upmarket in tourism". To me, this means quality tourists as opposed to "package tourists" in their millions. But discerning tourists will only come when we have something to offer other than the sea and the sun, that is,, our heritage and our culture. The lack of a proper opera house in the capital has been a void for far too long. Ours must be the only capital in Europe without a proper opera house!

If the Prime Minister goes ahead with his harebrained plan to build a Parliament instead of rebuilding the Opera House as was, his party will go down in history as the one which messed up (for want of a better phrase) City Gate in the 1960s and the Opera House site in 2008 - and I'm sure he would not want to leave that legacy.

Mr Prime Minister, please think and think again.