Labour MP Marlene Farrugia said this morning that the “abuse of Birzebbuga” has to stop.

Writing on Facebook after the third oil spill in the area, Dr Farrugia said that such incidents are happening “too often”.

“It’s bad enough that the residents have to cope with the physical presence of the industry on land. Now they can only look at their sea and remember the good old days, because someone somewhere is being careless and someone somewhere is not enforcing good practices to curtail accidents of the sort,” she wrote.

This abuse of Birzebbuga has to stop, the residents should be compensated (though nothing can make up for their loss), and industrial installations in the area should get their act together and make sure that such accidents' do not happen, and that when they do happen the cleaning up is swift, efficient and effective.

She also raised a number of questions:

Who pays for the clean up?

Is the same taxpayer deprived of enjoyment of the beach and clear, clean waters, being made to pay for the carelessness of big business with big money, through his / her taxes?

Who pays Civil Protection for the clean-up operations?