The government intends to amend the law by Christmas so that establishments found to have allowed admission to people aged under 17 will be fined thousands of euro for each person, Home Affairs Minister Carmela Abela said on Dissett this evening. The current fine is €233 per person.

Such establishments may also be closed down for a few days.

The measure is one in a series being considered by the Cabinet in the wake of last month's incident in Paceville where 74 young people were injured in a night club stampede when a stairwell collapsed. Several of the injured were aged under 17 and therefore should not have been in the establishment.

Earlier, it was revealed that there are only five licensed nightclubs/discos in Paceville.

According to the Malta Tourism Authority’s register of nightclubs, just ten per cent of the venues in Paceville and St Julian’s are officially recognised as such.

The rest, 33, are registered as “catering establishments” such as cafes, bars and restaurants, despite hosting hundreds of youths, DJs, and many even having the word “club” in their name.

An MTA spokesman told Times of Malta that this had possibly come about because the bars and cafes had obtained an “amplified music permit” allowing them to act as nightclubs without having to undergo the same checks. 

The law which regulates Paceville establishments, the Catering Establishments Regulations, sets out clear requirements for nightclubs and discotheques, which are different from those issued to bars, cafes and restaurants.

The MTA is tasked with carrying out regular inspections on the nightclubbing hub. The spokesman said that “to date”, some 38 inspections had been carried out.

Questions sent 17 days ago, asking which nightclubs had been inspected so far this year, and what irregularities had been found, were not answered by the authority. 

The MTA is also tasked with filing an inspection report with recommendations for venues’ health and safety requirements after every inspection. However, questions sent on the issuing of reports were also not answered by the authority.

Last month this newspaper had reported how the body tasked with monitoring health and safety in the clubbing district had only inspected six clubs.

Charles Burlò, who heads the Health and Safety Monitoring Board, had said his official list of nightclubs was so outdated that included establishments which had long closed down.

He had spent several months urging the authorities to update his list but had simply been referred to different government departments and authorities.