I refer to the report Marsascala group welcomes investment in Ricasoli (TMID, 8 March) with particular reference to where Dr Josie Muscat is reported to have said that “No matter how much the residents protest, the recycling plant would not be removed.”

This may need some further explanation on our part. What Dr Muscat meant, and this is borne out by what he said on other occasions as well as in letters to the press, is that once certain decisions are reached, their consequences are irreversible.

Hence the need for an open and transparent approach to the problems facing this island. Grupp Indipendenti Marsaskala has publicly proposed that the solution is for all sides to get together around a table and nominate a panel of truly independent experts acceptable to all.

These will then study the present documentation and any other material they may need to obtain and propose a national plan for recycling facilities. With the amount of research already available this should not take long, and all sides would bind themselves to accept the reasoned solutions. This is the only way forward, the democratic way forward, that is. History is replete with examples of what happens when Authority refuses to acknowledge the voice of the people. It inevitably loses.

Marvic Attard Gialanze, John Cole, Mariella Cutajar, Josie Muscat

Marsascala