Speaker makes sincere appeal to MPs to show reciprocal respect

Speaker Anglu Farrugia has urged the members of parliament to show more respect towards each other and stop wasting parliament’s time by raising “irrelevant” point of orders.

The Speaker was delivering a ruling following a heated PQ time on Tuesday evening in which the time allocated for parliamentary questions was spent on one question, marked by MPs’ bickering.

Four points of orders were raised, the Speaker noted, all of which were “irrelevant”.

“It’s time for MPs to start making better use of their parliamentary time,” Farrugia said, arguing that point of orders cannot be used an extension of question time.

This is not the first time that the Speaker urged MPs from both sides of the House to show more respect towards each other.

“[I] will not tolerate inexistent point of orders just to abuse of question time,” he said.

Stating that Transport Minister Joe Mizzi did not breach any parliamentary regulations last night, the Speaker urged for reciprocal respect in how question were formulated and replies delivered.

“Be more aware of the language you use and your attitude … this is a since appeal to show respect to this House and to the citizens who are following the parliamentary debates.”