Heritage Malta denied the claim made by Labour leader Alfred Sant that the agency was not adhering to the central parity rate of 0.4293 for the euro conversion to charge admission fees.

The reference was to a claim Dr Sant made at a public meeting in Marsaxlokk last Sunday. Heritage Malta is the national agency for museums, conservation practice and cultural heritage.

It said that admission fees were clearly displayed in both Maltese lira and in euro and were put up in a prominent location at each front office desk at every Heritage Malta museum and site.

All the prices displayed in euro have been converted at the central parity rate of 0.4293 and this was a standard policy applied by the agency in all its museums and sites in Malta and Gozo.

The agency said the leaflet that Dr Sant referred to in his comments was published in February 2005 following the reopening of the Domus Romana, a site which had been completely refurbished. Tens of thousands of these leaflets were distributed across various outlets for promotional purposes, the agency said, adding that at the time, Malta had not even applied to join the eurozone, but Heritage Malta was nonetheless accepting payment in euros, which was subject to an additional charge associated with the exchange of the euro currency into the Maltese lira.

The leaflet also promoted a multi-site ticket offer which sold for Lm5 and which allowed holders to visit three sites in Rabat/Mdina – the Domus Romana, the St Paul’s Catacombs and the National Museum of Natural History. Since July 2005, the price for this multi-site ticket was revised to Lm4 (e9.32).