Updated | Clean up your own St Patrick’s mess, council tells bars

The St Julian’s local council is refusing to fork out extra money to hire security for and clean up the mess from today’s St Patrick’s festivities.

St Julian’s deputy mayor Albert Buttigieg told MaltaToday that it unfair that the council has to fork out some €4,000 from its own limited coffers on a day in which bars in Spinola are estimated to earn between €10,000 and €15,000 each from the sale of alcohol.

“We cannot be held responsible for an event that we aren’t organising. There is a precedent - the Floriana local council had refused to pay to clean up the mess left behind from Isle of MTV and the tourism ministry ended up taking responsibility for such costs,” he said. “If the government considers St Patrick’s to be part of the touristic calendar then it should foot the bill for cleaning and security costs as it does for Isle of MTV.”

Contrary to previous years, the St Julian’s local council had this year given exclusive rights to Massive Promotions to play music and sell alcohol on the streets during the annual celebration, although it is not an owner of any St Julian’s outlet. The concession was granted on condition that the company hire security, deploy mobile toilets and pay to clean up the mess. The concession would also have given Massive Promotions exclusive rights to play music outdoors at Spinola, essentially banning the several bars in the vicinity from playing music outside of their establishments.

Mayor Guido Dalli told MaltaToday that the music would have been “decent music…not all that boom boom boom noise”.

However, the bars Ryan’s Pub, Tigullio and Saddles Bar argued in court that the decision was “abusive and illegal” and their lawyer and Labour MP Luciano Busuttil managed to secure an injunction on the council.

The PL’s councillors’ section condemned the Council for not even issuing an expression of interest before giving exclusive rights to Massive Promotions, owned by Melchior Vassallo and Philip Gatt, and have formally asked the police commissioner to investigate whether criminal steps can be instigated over the way the permit was granted. 

“Is this the politics of transparency and good governance that Simon Busuttil likes harping on about? Will he take action against his mayor?”

Labour also accused Albert Buttigieg, Guido Dalli and the council’s executive secretary of breaching the local council law when a vote was taken to decide the council's stance.

“The law clearly states that, if a councilor so requests, votes should be taken down and registered clause by clause so that the public can see which councilors voted in favour and against separate proposals,” it said.

“The PN councilors wanted to brush off the council’s legal responsibility for security during the event. The PL councilors had put forward a counter-motion to propose that the council maintains responsibility for the security of residents during [St Patrick’s], but the PN councilors voted against it and the executive secretary broke the law by holding a secret vote.”

'St Patrick's is nothing but an orgy of binge-drinking' - St Julian's deputy mayor Albert Buttigieg

In a counter-statement, the PN’s St Julian’s councilors said that they had acted in the best interest of residents when giving a concession to Massive Promotions.

“The deal would have seen the council provided with 25 security officials, 25 mobile toilets, an ambulance, insurance for all activities, and a helpline for people who required it,” they said. “It’s a shame that these efforts have now disappeared into thin air.”

Obviously, the company that was going to provide us with these services wanted to make profit too, and we therefore gave it a permit that would have allowed it to take part in the activities too, along with the other operators.”

Albert Buttigieg told MaltaToday that the council had unanimously agreed to grant exclusive rights to Massive Promotions back in October, after the company had personally approached them.

“We respect the court’s decision and plan to issue an expression of interest next year, but our lawyer [Stefano Filletti] had told us that there was no need to do so, and we didn’t challenge his advice,” he said.

The deputy mayor also argued that St Patrick’s Day, which he described as “an orgy of binge-drinking”, should no longer be held in Spinola Bay due to its major inconvenience to residents.

“It is not fair that people cannot go home because there are too many people blocking the way or that people cannot sleep because the music is still blaring outside at 2am,” he said. “People will say that we want to spoil their fun, but people shouldn’t have fun at the expense of residents. We live in a civilized society after all.”

Around 20,000 people are estimated to have attended the St Patrick's celebrations in Spinola last year. 

Controversy over permits to kiosks

Meanwhile, the General Retailers and Traders’ Union (GRTU) has complained that the council has granted permits to four kiosks that aren’t owned by an establishment in the area.

“Councils should not issue permits on a one-off when there are already ample services provided by fixed businesses in an area,” GRTU’s leisure section president Philip Fenech told MaltaToday. “Businesses pay compliance fees all year round, make investments and pay their staff’s salaries. These kiosks are free-riders that pay a pittance to the council and make sales on hyped special occasions without having a business in the area.”

In a recent letter to justice minister Owen Bonnici, the GRTU also warmed that the permits could go against local council law, and called for

councils to be given clear guidelines as to what permits they are allowed to issue.

“We will not accept another special occasion like Mother’s Day be robbed from our members in fixed premises, as has happened in the past and with Valentine’s Day, because some local councils disregard the law to derive some funds,” the union wrote.

Tigullio director Kenneth Vella accused the council of disregarding the court’s recent decision when it approved the permits.

“Does the council consider itself above the law now?” he asked.

However, Dalli and Buttigieg argued that the council issued some 20 permits for outside kiosks to practically every business that requested one, including to establishments like Tigullio, Ryan’s and the Labour Party club.

“There will be thousands of people, plenty enough to go around,” Dalli said.