It is not usually known, but the Office of the Prime Minister pays Lm857 a month for the lease of the Auberge de Castille.
This meagre lease is paid by the government… to the government since it is the government which is recognised as the owner of the historic auberge.
This and similar information emerged from a series of parliamentary questions yesterday, all deriving from a series of questions put by Joe Debono Grech to various ministers, in this case to the Prime Minister.
Dr Gonzi also revealed that OPM is also paying Lm131 per month (once again to the government) for the lease of the historic Inquisitor's summer residence in Girgenti which is used as the Prime Minister's official residence.
Other buildings or sites are leased for far more. The property used by MITTS at Swatar in Dingli, for instance, is leased to the tune of Lm1,061 per month. It gets weirder and weirder when you take into account the armed forces, who practically pay lease for every bit of land they use: Lm2,735 per month for Safi Barracks; Lm1,251 for the Pembroke training area and ranges and even Lm58.33 for the Luqa Barracks football ground.
And in reply to a similar question, Investments Minister Austin Gatt admitted his ministry is paying a pittance – Lm1,000 a year – for the use of Palazzo Verdellin, the old and beautiful baroque palazzo in Palace Square. The same ministry then pays Lm6,000 a year to lease parts of Transcontinental House in Zachary Street.
Public servants injured on duty
A total of 132 public servants were injured while on duty last year, Health Minister Louis Deguara told Labour MP Adrian Vassallo.
Ironically the highest number – 43 – were nurses, followed by 21 nursing aides. None of the injuries, the minister hurried to specify, was of a serious nature.
The Eurovision team
For the first time, the full list of the Maltese delegation which went to Athens for the Eurovision song contest has been revealed.
Tourism Minister Francis Zammit Dimech told Labour MP Carmelo Abela that the delegation consisted of: Fabrizio Faniello, singer; Aldo Spiteri, composer; Robert Abela, head of delegation; John Demanuele, assistant head of delegation and technical coordinator with artistic director Alex Panya; Nadette Bugeja, head of press; Anton Miceli, executive secretary Malta Song Board and administrative coordinator; Martin Gauci, executive officer at Malta Council for Culture and the Arts and administrative coordinator; Joseph Dalmas, coordinator of anything regarding the singer; Frans Fenech, consultant; Marbeck Spiteri, coordinator for choreographer and dancers; Mike Spiteri, coordinator for anything which regarded the singer; and Moyra Felice, TV director and coordinator on visuals with ERT television station.
The minister added some notes with regard to three of these 12 persons. Aldo Spiteri paid his flight ticket and taxes, and Robert Abela did so in part while Moyra Felice paid the flight taxes.
200-year-old statue stolen from chapel
A statue of St Joseph, estimated to be some 200 years old, was stolen from the hunters' chapel in Rabat, Deputy Prime Minister Tonio Borg told Adrian Vassallo.
The minister was listing thefts reported from churches and chapels last year. Most of the thefts regard mobile phones and handbags stolen from churches, including two purses stolen at St John's Co-Cathedral but also a microphone receiver and two gas heaters valued at Lm50 each from St Paul's Anglican Pro Cathedral. Hi-fi equipment valued at over Lm800 was stolen from Sacro Cuor church in Sliema.