Flimkien ghal Ambjent Ahjar is reluctantly compelled to reply to the latest attack on its integrity by a handful of columnists who have difficulty in accepting the outcome of the St John’s Co-Cathedral issue.

FAA has no problem in confirming that it was summoned to meet the St John’s Foundation, however this only came after we made the project public. No attempt at public consultation or any sort of contact was made during the two years that the foundation had been dealing with Mepa on the project since 2006.

A call demanding our attendance at very short notice came on a Wednesday afternoon for the following day or Friday, but we had prior commitments that could not be cancelled. We offered to meet on any day the following week; however that was not accepted by the Curator who insisted on meeting within 48 hours, ie by Friday. That Friday coincided with the last day of the State presidency of the St John’s Foundation as the following Monday it was to be handed over to the Church presidency.

FAA subsequently attended the presentation, which the foundation held at Din l-Art Helwa’s premises that was limited to NGO leaders and Heritage authorities but excluded the public. In spite of what has been claimed re exclusive presentations, project presentations of this sort are normally made to all the environment NGOs together; in this case the presentation was attended by officials from DLH, FAA, Ramblers Association and Friends of the Earth.

On the other hand, in projects affecting the general public or national monuments, the project should also be presented to a wider cross-section of the public and the press before the preparation of an Environment Impact Assessment, as was in fact done in the case of the Grand Harbour Regeneration Plan and the Dock One project.

As regards the accuracy of our references to the cemetery, we confirm that the area is referred to as the 1577 Cemetery in publications by Leonard Mahoney, Marquis Nicholas de Piro, Dominic Cutajar (former Curator of St John’s Co-Cathedral Museum) and Dane Munro, an academic on St John’s Cathedral who writes: “In the courtyard cemetery those Knights were buried who had died during the Great Siege; their remains were transferred from Birgu.”

We also refer to the Archbishop’s homily on the occasion of the ceremony of the Blessing of the Graves at the churchyard cemetery (7 September 2008) saying,“The cemetery is not merely a receptacle of bones but a celebration of the lives of those who died during the Great Siege.” We therefore hold that the area should maintain the reverence it has always enjoyed out of respect for those heroes who are buried there.

It is surprising that certain people can’t come to terms with the fact that this case is now closed and prefer to indulge in disparaging remarks and nit-picking. FAA calls for an end to this assault on the public’s democratic and EU rights to participate in the decision-making process of our land and calls for the focus to be directed toward more positive initiatives.

Astrid Vella

FAA