The Parliamentary Secretary for Tourism, Mario de Marco, yesterday pointed out that his absence from Parliament on Wednesday afternoon was due to the fact that he was at a meeting with officials from the Malta Environment and Planning Authority regarding the implementation of the authority’s reform.

His secretariat was replying to comments made by Labour MP Leo Brincat, who on Wednesday questioned whether Dr de Marco’s absence from Parliament along with that of the Prime Minister during question time was a strategy for them not to answer questions.

The Parliamentary Secretary said the meeting was over by 8.45 p.m., and that meetings with Mepa were usually held in the evening so as not to interfere with the authority’s daily business.

However, Mr Brincat said yesterday that this did not justify Dr De Marco’s absence from the House.

It had left Minister John Dalli having to field supplementary questions that were in no way linked to his portfolio and for which he understandably did not have the necessary technical replies.

“What is indeed worrying is that there have been various instances in recent days when neither the PM nor his parliamentary secretaries were present in the House to answer OPM PQs while the PM seems to have made it a custom of his to leave parliamentary replies to supplementary questions to his parliamentary secretaries – when present – even when he himself is occasionally present in the House during Question Time,” said Mr Brincat.