The Government is considering the suggestion of fitting a retractable roof to the open air theatre in Valletta and I think this would be madness. Surely, there is no point in throwing good money after bad. The current structure is, in my opinion, a slap in the face to the Maltese people and was money wasted.

It’s hard to believe that Renzo Piano, even though I don’t particularly like him as an architect, would be willing to put his name to this thing filled with plastic seats.

The opera house should be restored to its former glory in order to become something that the Maltese can be proud of and something that tourists will pay good money to visit. It should be designed by a Maltese architect not a foreigner. There are some excellent young architects in Malta so why not hold a competition to see who can come up with the best design and move on from there?

However, if the money is not there to do the job properly then don’t do half a job, wait until the money is in the pot to pay for it.

Why not set up a company specifically for the restoration of the opera house and raise the money through the sale of shares to the public? That way the opera house would belong to the Maltese people. If the will is there it can be done and a beautiful phoenix can rise from the ashes.