It is with a great sigh of relief that I note that, at last, the police are stepping up their efforts to identify underage clubbers in Paceville.

It is the norm in Malta that we have to wait for an accident to happen before taking drastic action. This is typical of us... and in everything we do.

The accident in Paceville, when a club’s stairway collapsed injuring 74 young people, 20 of whom under 17 years of age, raises many eyebrows and rightly so.

We ask the competent authorities why they are so lenient with those who continually break the law.

We are informed that, during 2013, 33 underage clubbers were brought to book while, this year, only eight were arraigned so far.

This is an insult to one’s intelligence as everyone knows what the actual situation is. Unfortunately, what seems to count for some club owners is to get rich quickly – the more the merrier.

Hopefully, now that we seem to have learnt the lesson – incidentally, the Paceville accident could have been much worse – police checks should continue and not just be a one-off.

Parents and guardians need to have their mind at rest when it comes to their children’s places of entertainment.