It seems that Mr Brincat was not aware of the notice issued by the Transport Authority a few days ago telling the public that it will temporarily suspend the traffic lights in order to test whether they can be eliminated altogether.

Nobody present during the session drew the MP’s attention as he made his case: “Having a fault for one day is one thing but these have not been working for over a week now,” he said.

Mr Brincat was concluding the parliamentary session that brought to an end the National Archives bill discussion.

The MLP spokesman talked, among other things, of the Libyan-Maltese diplomatic relationship and of unnecessary delays that some former Enemalta workers were being faced with by the social security department regarding the revision of their pensions.

The government needs to prepare a holistic strategy on its relations with Libya, he said. Other countries such as Germany, England and Italy had managed to re-establish their relations with Libya in a matter of a few months and had already secured contracts for their industrial sector.

All delegations from other countries have made it a point to have with them representatives from the industrial sector. However, the Maltese delegation which recently visited the country did not have any similar representatives.

He said that the government has to keep an eye on those elements that may disrupt good relations between the two countries, adding that there is a person in the Tripoli embassy that is not well viewed by the Libyan authorities.

The government is not doing enough to re-position itself vis-a-vis the Libyan government, even though it is probably high on the government’s priorities, he said. He asked why Malta was not purchasing more oil from Libya, especially given the present oil situation.

Regarding the Enemalta employees, he said that he has information that people have been chasing the social security department for months in order to have their pensions revised. The same was the case with some former servicemen, he said. In April, the department had informed them that the revisions were under way, he said.

He asked Minister Dolores Cristina to put pressure on the department, which falls under her responsibility, to get on with the job, in order to avoid any unnecessary hardship for the people involved.

MLP spokesman Joe Brincat said a number of women were finding it difficult to get their separation cases heard in court. The social services department is requesting that there be a decree by the court before they can issue the social security payments, but the decree will only be issued after the mediation process has been concluded. This is wrong and has to be amended, he said.

He added that people for whom the court has ordered supervised visits with their children have to pay Appogg social workers for the service. He said that as a result, rich people will be able to see their children, while poorer people will be denied access.

He said that the agency was being entrusted with the responsibility to schedule visits when the litigating parties could not come to an agreement. In this way the agency was being given more power than that given to the courts. He said that there was a case of child abuse referred to the agency, on which no action had been taken over a month after the investigation on the case had been closed.

He said that there is a recurring trend in Malta whereby things are done for the sake of publicity and TV coverage; reality is being presented in a warped manner, he said. He mentioned a case in which illegal building development had taken place in court and added that if a health and safety checks had to take place in the courts of law the place would be closed down.