The very sound advice given by the Church Environment Commission on the ongoing controversy surrounding proposals about St John's Co-Cathedral is that we should study and reflect before taking a position. The very last sentence of its press statement clearly states: "Let us not rush to any uninformed decision."

The environment lobby has done, and is doing, sterling work in our country but there is sometimes a tendency of shooting from the hip. One cannot blame it, given the many bad things that have happened on our islands.

This, though, does not seem to be such a proposal. St John's Co-Cathedral Foundation is not made up of cowboys, speculators or Philistines. Its members have St John's at heart and are very culturally minded. They put forward proposals so that Maltese and tourists alike could enjoy and appreciate the Co-Cathedral's vast treasures that cannot be sufficiently appreciated due to lack of space. They are making two proposals: excavating below St John's or building in the courtyard. The foundation is also proposing that an environment impact assessment should be carried out before any final decision is taken.

The commission is right to point out that "we cannot assume a priori and without the benefit of a complete and technically sound EIA, that any options being proposed are unacceptable".

The environmental lobby should be open to change its position against the foundation's two proposed alternatives. Likewise, the foundation should be ready to consider moving the treasures under its custody outside of the Co-Cathedral complex if the EIA shows that the two proposals are not viable.

An informed position is the solution. Quite naturally this can only happen if, to quote the commission, the EIA is "truly objective". We eagerly wait for an EIA.