The limited waiver granted to Parliamentary Secretary Franco Mercieca to carry out private work was down to “common sense”, Prime Minister Joseph Muscat insisted yesterday.

He should devote his whole time to his official duties

He said his comment had to be put in context with the fact that during the first Cabinet meeting he had commissioned a review of the 1994 ministerial code of ethics.

The code says: “As soon as a minister (and parliamentary secretary) is appointed, it is expected of him not to continue with his private work. He should devote his whole time to his official duties.”

A debate on the code of ethics arose after The Times revealed that Mr Mercieca, an established ophthalmic surgeon, was given a waiver by Dr Muscat to continue seeing patients at Mater Dei Hospital and privately.

Dr Muscat defended this, saying he chose the path of “common sense” due to Mr Mercieca’s specialisation.

Mr Mercieca has described the controversy as a “storm in a teacup”.

He initially justified a prime ministerial waiver allowing him to continue practising as a surgeon by claiming he was the “sole ophthalmic surgeon” specialised in certain eye-related operations.

When fellow ophthalmologist Thomas Fenech publicly challenged that statement, Mr Mercieca specified he was “not indispensable” to the sector but insisted his expertise meant patients received “a better service”.

Yesterday, Dr Muscat accepted the code of ethics did not, on paper, allow ministers and parliamentary secretaries to work privately.

However, he said that in the past Cabinet members had been allowed to continue lecturing and this was to the advantage of students.

He stressed the review of the code he commissioned during the first Cabinet meeting was now ongoing.

Dr Muscat was speaking to journalists after a visit to Shield Consultants, a risk management consultancy company that inaugurated its new crisis management centre. He congratulated the company for branching out in the sector.

He pledged his government would not tolerate precarious work nor grant contracts to companies that did not practise ethical employment.