PN whip questions cost of Ira Losco’s Eurovision coat

Opposition Whip David Agius urged the culture minister to publish the cost of a coat that Ira Losco had originally planned to wear at this year’s Eurovision Song Contest.

Owen Bonnici refused to publish an exact figure, but said that the 7D coat – that was scrapped from Losco’s final version – cost “nowhere near’ the €80,000 sum that was reported in the media.

They were speaking in Parliament, after Bonnici refused to publish PBS’ expenses for the last ten Eurovision Song Contests.

““Contrary to what many people think, the government doesn’t allocate money to the Eurovision in its Budget as it does for events such as the Jazz Festival,” Bonnici said. “All money spent by PBS on the Eurovision comes purely from its advertising revenue from the festival. Since Ira Losco is such a prolific singer, sponsor interest shot up this year and indeed PBS’ advertising revenue grew by 120% when compared to last year. If we want to cut off the legs of a commercial entity and publish their advertising details then that’s another question.”

Ira Losco ranked a disappointing 12th in May’s Eurovision Song Contest with her song Walk on Water, boosted by a strong jury vote – who ranked her in fourth place. However, she was let down by the televote – ranking 21st out of 26 countries.