Yes, we are sociable. Yes, we have a great social life in Malta, and that is true of our adults, our teenagers and even our younger children! Yes, after pretty stressful school weeks our youngsters do need to go out, socialise with each other and let off steam.

But 14-year-olds and younger in Paceville? Things have now become so bad that we regard this as normal, and it is almost impossible to say no to your kids when they want to go to Paceville because all their friends frequent the area with admittedly widely differing curfew times.

But 14-year-olds coming home at midnight is not uncommon; it is almost the norm. And 14-year- olds coming home at 1am is not uncommon either, particularly if they have a 16-year-old brother or sister and the

parents cannot come and go twice in an evening.

And surely, it is not just an issue of the time they come back home. It is an issue of where they are meeting. Paceville is not a suitable place for very young teenagers, is it? It’s not just a case of not serving alcohol to younger teenagers, which is the issue we always hear a lot of debate about, and calls for more policing, legislation, etcetera. It goes beyond that.

After all, even if some bar owners are now being more careful about selling alcohol to young teenagers, they can just walk into a few of those shops which sell everything and buy anything they want, particularly those alcohol and fruit-mix drinks that they so love, but that are essentially designed to get people into drinking at a younger and younger age.

If kids were meeting in a small coffee shop, spending hours on end talking about whatever it is teenagers talk about today, there is absolutely nothing wrong or remarkable about that. The parents who today are worrying about Paceville were themselves, 25 years ago, worrying their own parents when they went out and hung out outside Fortizza, Saddles or wherever.

But Paceville did not exist in its present form 20 or 30 years ago. It has grown and developed in such a way that it is not really suitable for younger teenagers, and it is about time action was taken on this issue.

Individual parents are helpless on this. It is the authorities concerned, the govern- ment, the police and all the NGOs and others who deal with all the social problems in general, who should just take the plunge, and cordon off Paceville to at least anyone under 16, although some would prefer the limit to be 18.

This might sound draconian, but there are places that are fine for young teenagers and there are places that are not. When we classify a film for 18-year-olds we don't allow eight-year-olds to go and watch it, do we? Similarly, Paceville really is a young adult and upwards place, and while the cinemas and Bay Street are suitable areas, most of the streets and bars of Paceville are just not for kids.

However, will the authorities have the courage to battle against the huge vested interests that are involved in the alcohol and entertainment industry? After all, it’s not just that the alcohol producers want kids to drink young. But once they start, they are their consumers, practically for ever, so our culture of too much alcohol, too much food (as witnessed by the “love handles” of our very chunky young kids – and girls especially), too much socialising, really is all about keeping an industry happy.

The sad truth is that kids go to Paceville because there is nothing much for them to do. If you are lucky enough to have kids who are very focused on, say, sport or drama or dance, or – a few – their school work, you have a lesser problem, as these kids manage to go out but not be consumed by the horrible culture that is Paceville.

So, one lesson is, if you have younger children, try and get them passionate about something other than their computers, playstations, gameboy or TV, as kids seem to get into trouble less if they also have a passion for sport or drama or whatever.

This is good advice because I think it is unlikely we will be brave enough to close off Paceville to our children. We are very good at talk and platitudes here, but we only show great moral resolve if there is some biting Catholic issue like the debate about divorce, abortion or IVF. Somehow, the death of a whole generation of brains through massive alcohol abuse in the bars of Paceville does not capture our imagination, much less our collective concern.