This week was a particularly busy one as I attended two different conferences, one in Monaco and one in Gibraltar. The former was the 9th plenary session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Mediterranean, and the latter was a very interesting conference on violence against women organised by British Islands and Mediterranean Region Commonwealth Women Parliamentarians, of which Steering Committee I am a member. I headed the respective delegations at both conferences and I must stress that in both instances the Maltese delegation played a very active role. In the Monaco session I also presented my report on the political developments in the Mena region, and considering what is happening in the Mediterranean, this report provoked a very interesting discussion and yielded a very fruitful resolution.
Despite these engagements, our work as Parliamentary Secretariat progressed at the usual pace and another part of our strategy and vision implemented. In fact, we announced that the property identified in Zabbar for people with disability has huge potential. The relative architectural survey was concluded and plans are ready to be submitted to Mepa next week. The identified property in Zabbar will cater for around seven people with different and multiple needs. This is a very important achievement and, coupled with the announcement made by Minister Michael Farrugia as Minister responsible for Housing that he will be devolving a property in Pembroke to our secretariat for this major social project, this means that in less than a year we have already targeted four properties - one of which is in Siggiewi which is nearly completed and another in Gozo. We will issue a public statement with regard to the latter next week, after an expression of interest procedure was successfully concluded. As the Prime Minister stated last Sunday, the government will start implementing one of its main electoral pledges of giving the long and much needed peace of mind to parents of people with a disability.
Despite our endeavours and achievements in such sensitive sectors that concern the elderly and people with disabilities, I am very disappointed to note pessimism, and negative and unjust criticism that at best verges on falsehood from my Opposition counterpart. For his peace of mind and for the peace of mind of all those who might have been concerned by the incorrect comments made, the Mellieha Day Centre Aerobics sessions for older adults are being held every Tuesday and Friday. These sessions started on 3rd October of last year and are planned to continue until 29th May. This was confirmed in a DOI press release issued by my Parliamentary Secretariat on the 3rd of October stating so and on the occasion, to which I was also invited to participate, I was extremely pleased to see our day centre clients working out. Since these started in October, it is incorrect to say that such sessions started after pressure was exerted by the Opposition spokesperson, since back in October he did not occupy that position. These sessions are a joint initiative between the Parliamentary Secretariat for the Rights of Persons with Disability and Active Ageing and the Mellieħa local council. There are about 25 people participating in these sessions and they are enjoying it tremendously.
A National ICT training programme is being planned in collaboration with Malta Communications Authority and both older persons and persons with disability are part of it. Sessions will be held in all Day Centres for the Elderly, including the Mellieha Day Centre. This training programme consists of an initial four sessions each of two hours duration. The ICT training programme at Mellieħa Day Centre is tentatively scheduled for March. Sessions in other day centres have commenced and have been extremely successful so far.
Members of day centres are participating in a programme implemented in collaboration with P.A.R.K.S Directorate to contribute to the reforestation project at Buskett. This project had been implemented in a number of day centres and has been recently extended to include all day centres, including the Day Centre at Mellieħa.
Unfortunately, part of today's article was about a particular locality because the Opposition spokesperson chose to comment negatively. However, our activities are spread on a national level and we target all localities as part of a holistic and strategic action plan to implement our electoral manifesto pledges for the benefit of our people and country.
Dr Caruana is the Parliamentary Secretary for the Rights of People with Disability and Active Ageing