All smiles: Home Affairs Minister Manuel Mallia arriving at Parliament last night. Photo: Matthew Mirabelli

Home Affairs Minister Manuel Mallia again denied any involvement in trying to cover up the shooting incident involving his driver Paul Sheehan and said it was time to strengthen the police communications unit.

“I never, personally, instructed anyone to cover anything up... I know that the people out there will differentiate between what happened and what I wished could have happened,” he said in Parliament during a budgetary debate on the Home Affairs Ministry.

He added that it was time to issue a call for a professional media relations officer within the police force, saying that the officer would ensure collaboration and clear communication with the public about the workings of the police.

The current media relations’ unit lacked the resources to give information within a reasonable time, he said.

Paul Sheehan, the 40-year-old police constable who was seconded as a security driver with Dr Mallia, allegedly fired two shots at 30-year-old Stephen Smith’s Vauxhall in Gżira on November 19. Mr Sheehan has been charged with the attempted murder of Mr Smith and is pleading not guilty.

The incident has become politically explosive, prompting the Opposition to demand Dr Mallia’s resignation and to move a motion of no-confidence in Parliament.

The Prime Minister has said the motion will be discussed only after the independent inquiry into the allegation of a cover-up comes out with its conclusions.

The unfolding controversy was sparked off by a faulty official statement issued a couple of hours after the incident, when the Department of Information said the officer fired warning shots in the air after someone rammed into the minister’s car.

It transpired that the shots were fired at the car, as outlined in a statement issued the following day by the ministry.

Yesterday, Dr Mallia said the incident was very worrying to the people out there, and “rightly so”.

There had been a lot of constructive criticism, to be used to ensure such incidents did not repeat themselves. But there was also destructive criticism alleging a cover-up.

He insisted he was not involved in any cover-up, adding that he would have the opportunity to make further comments about the subject during the debate on the motion of no-confidence against him.

He said the shooting incident had overshadowed the good work carried out by his ministry and the Opposition was taking advantage of it.

“I entered politics to be of service to the public and not for money,” he insisted. He had a successful law firm and, in the past, worked to curb abuse and would not allow it to happen.

His appeal to the Opposition was for honesty. They knew his credentials, they knew his integrity. What had happened in the Sheehan case was certainly nothing he would have wanted.

He was always honest, even when he spoke about the possession of €500,000 at home. The least he expected was for the Opposition to be equally honest.

Earlier, Labour MP Deborah Schembri said that, in the past, there were cases of police officers who had fired shots in public but no minister resigned.

During his address, Opposition spokesman on home affairs Jason Azzopardi said the Ministry of Home Affairs and National Security was meant to be there for people to feel safe – but this ministry was doing the opposite. It had become embroiled in a growing web of lies and, as a result, the public could not trust the government and the Department of Information.

This minister was spreading a culture of arrogance, he said. He did not believe that the minster was unaware of the contents of the press release issued by the DOI soon after the incident. A minister should be aware of what was being issued and, if he was not, he was incompetent.

Dr Azzopardi questioned who had authorised Mr Sheehan to carry a gun, who recommended that Dr Mallia needed an armed guard and who ordered that the car be removed from the scene before the inquiry.

Following an incident when a person could have been killed, the government focused on fabricating a lie.