Parliamentary Speaker Anglu Farrugia should move to dismiss a sergeant major revealed to have insulted PN MPs on Facebook, Opposition Leader Simon Busuttil said this evening. 

Sergeant major Eugenio Caruana was given a warning by Dr Farrugia last week but kept on parliamentary duties after Opposition MPs highlighted offensive posts the newly-promoted police officer had made on Facebook about PN MP Claudette Buttigieg.

The Speaker, who described the post as "colourful", had said he saw no need to raise the issue with the Commissioner of Police. He instead warned the sergeant major that he was obliged to show respect to all MPs and House staff. 

But Dr Busuttil this evening insisted the Speaker was obliged to ask the Commissioner to reassign the Sergeant Major, saying his MPs did not feel safe in his presence.

The Opposition Leader said Sergeant Major Caruana had also offended other PN MPs, including deputy leader Beppe Fenech Adami. He had also written offensive posts about Archibishop Charles Scicluna, the Opposition Leader said.

“Your first obligation should be to this House’s members. I don’t care if police here are Nationalist or Labour, but MPs must feel safe,” Dr Busuttil told the Speaker. 

Dr Farrugia had opened the parliamentary session by chastising Ms Buttigieg for having written about the issue in The Malta Independent. Ms Buttigieg had called the Speaker's ruling "“totally unacceptable…by any professional and ethical standard”.