The Parliamentary Secretary for Health, Chris Fearne, said today that the companies involved in the supply of inferior concrete to Mater Dei Hospital and mentioned in the inquiry report may be blacklisted by the government and thus banned from contracts, including the works to reinforce the hospital itself.

Mr Fearne said that the government had sought the Attorney General's advice and would act in line with the advice given.

Speaking at a press conference at the hospital lobby surrounded by a large number of hospital workers, Mr Fearne said that he wanted to show solidarity with the workers after the recent disclosures on inferior quality concrete.

Asked whether it was ethical to involve workers to score political points, he said he just wanted to show solidarity with the workers, who he said, were going through a difficult time.

Mr Fearne said works to reinforce columns at the Emergency Department would start early next year. That would cost some €5 million. Work on the rest of the hospital would start later in the year.

The total bill is expected to reach some €35 million.

Asked if the concrete suppliers would be sued for damages, Mr Fearne said everything would be considered by the Attorney General.

In a reaction, shadow minister Claudette Buttigieg said Mr Fearne's declaration continued to show that the government was covering up for the contractors mentioned as responsible for the defective concrete.

One of these companies, she said, had a direct link with the man the Prime Minister appointed personal consultant, another had relatives directly involved in the Labour Party and another built the Labour Party's headquarters in Hamrun.

The government, Ms Buttigieg said, was seeing how not to  seek damages from these four companies passing the €35 million bill to the Maltese taxpayers.

In another statement, the Labour Party accused the Opposition leader of trying to escape responsibility whenever a scandal in which his party was involved cropped up.

This, it said, was the case in the Mater Dei weak concrete scandal.

Dr Busuttil, the PL said, had described the oil commissions case as a smokescreen, the case of the alleged works for votes in Gozo as mud throwing, and in the case of the Mater Dei concrete he was trying to divert his own blame to others.

He wanted to be acknowledged for the interconnector project, but was skirting responsibility in a case for which his party was completely to blame.