For the past five years I have holidayed on Gozo, combining a beach holiday with scuba diving. I have noted with interest the proposal that Gozo should become an "eco-island" - given that it provides what is probably the best scuba diving in Europe together with excellent facilities for family holidays, promoting it in such fashion would seem to make a lot of sense.

However, were such promotion to amount to anything substantive (rather than meaningless lip-service) it would presumably start with making the most of the ecological resources the island already has. There is therefore a particular irony in the fact that this year the condition of the island's finest beach, Ramla Bay (probably the best beach in the Maltese islands) has been filthy. The sand is covered in cigarette butts, other rubbish and there is a pile of rotting seaweed along almost the entire beach.

Until such time as the authorities responsible for ensuring basic cleanliness of facilities do their job, marketing Gozo as an "eco-island" will be nothing more than a sick joke.