Muscat makes jibe about Fenech’s ‘Our Lady’ comment

Labour leader Joseph Muscat yesterday took a dig at the Finance Minister for his comment about the Virgin Mary being sorrowful over the Maltese divorce debate, saying he could not say if Our Lady was sad but knew of families who cried over their utility bills.

Dr Muscat was referring to an article published on Wednesday in The Malta Independent, in which Finance Minister Tonio Fenech objected to people criticising priests who at the Good Friday religious ceremonies prayed against the introduction of divorce.

“I am sure Our Lady is very sorrowful that Malta is considering divorce,” Mr Fenech wrote in a passage of his article where he argued that people should wake up to the fact that “God has a say in such matters”.

Speaking at an event organised by the General Workers’ Union, Dr Muscat said: “I will leave people free to gauge whether the minister is making a distinction between a secular and a confessional state”.

He used the jibe to comment on the government’s family policies, saying it was not enough to speak of strengthening the family without backing up that talk with economic policies that supported it.

Although not enough, the €14 million granted to families to subsidise water and electricity bills last year was better than nothing, Dr Muscat said. However, the government had put an end to it.

The government should find the money to help families, just as it found the money to fund the building of Parliament at City Gate, Valletta, he added.