I find it disgusting that people like Daphne Caruana Galizia have been making personal attacks on Astrid Vella regarding the St John’s Co-Cathedral debacle. Astrid is spokesperson for the FAA, so if Daphne has an axe to grind why doesn’t she attack the NGO rather than its spokesperson? It is one thing to attack what is being said or done by an organisation and quite another to make personal attacks on an individual.

One of the things being said about FAA and Astrid Vella is that they are not qualified to speak on such issues. From what I have read about Ms Vella, she seems very qualified to speak on matters of Maltese history and heritage, and I’m sure the country and indeed Europe don’t hand out awards for nothing.

Obviously as in all organisations you will encounter areas outside your personal expertise and in such cases you bring in outside help. FAA consulted many qualified people including architects, engineers and geologist Peter Gatt in the course of their investigations into this stupid project. This is something the Foundation should have done before spending money on an EIA. This is what Peter Gatt had to say on the matter:

“Tension cracks in rocks (joints) would be expected to be common at the top of Sceberras Hill where St John’s is located. If excavation exposes a sizeable joint oriented in a particular direction, an entire wedge of rock may fail, causing catastrophic damage to the Cathedral [similar to the] excavation of the Sliema car park, and St Paul’s Bay, when two women died buried under rubble.

“Globigerina Limestone is a soft rock which may deform in a brittle as well as ductile manner. Even if we are spared mass failure, creating a void will alter stresses in the rock and cause slow deformation, which will increase damage to the Cathedral structure in the form of tension cracks (kunsenturi) in the Cathedral.

“This may ruin Mattia Preti’s vault paintings.

“The excavation will alter the local hydrology i.e. pathways taken by rain water in rock and may result in a localised temporary build up of water along the walls of the completed (damp sealed) underground structure. This increase in humidity will be disastrous for the Cathedral, causing increased salt crystallisation.” Full texts of the expert’s reports can be found at www.faa.org.mt.

It has also been reported that the EU funds earmarked for this project will not be lost, but go to another Maltese tourism-related project, as FAA has always maintained. So this puts a stop to another lie being spread by certain people.

It is my belief speaking as a tourist that the entire country owes a debt of gratitude to FAA for bringing this matter to their attention. I think the government should call for the resignation of the members of the Foundation purely on the grounds of mismanagement of their position and wasting public funds.

James A. Tyrrell

County Antrim

N. Ireland