Over the past two weeks two statements were issued on the need for a decision to be taken on a new location for the courts of law in Gozo.

The first came from the Gozo Chamber of Advocates, which urged the government to urgently identify a suitable site from where the Gozo courts could function more efficiency and with more convenience to the parties involved - be they court staff, or people needing the courts' services.

Another forensic year has started, the chamber said, and yet there seems to be no plan to end the "acute problem of lack of space". The current location of the law courts building, at the Cittadella, makes it inaccessible for people with mobility issues.

Although, over many years, there have been proposals and suggestions for an alternative site to be located in the island's capital city, these have not been converted into a government decision to build a new home for the Gozitan courts, the chamber said.

The second statement came from the Nationalist Party, which accused the Labour government of not keeping its promise - made 12 years ago - that Gozo will have its new law courts building. Addressing the media, PN spokespersons Karol Aquilina (justice) and Alex Borg (Gozo) highlighted all the difficulties encountered in the running of the law courts in Gozo.

The promise of a new law court building was made three times in Labour budgets since it took over the reins of the country in 2013 and yet, in spite of having different ministers of justice and ministers for Gozo since then, nothing has materialised.

The PN is insisting that the government takes action on the matter, announces its plans and, more importantly, implement them in the shortest time possible.

Usually, the government and the Labour Party are always quick with their responses to any criticism, particularly if it's coming from the PN. Sometimes, statements from both the government and the party are issued, as if to emphasise the point being made.

But, this time, there has been complete silence. No reply was issued when the Gozitan Chamber of Advocates issued its statement on 14 October, and none was forthcoming either after the PN's press conference.

Who knows, maybe the government will be mentioning the Gozo law courts building again in the budget to be presented on Monday, as it had done for the years 2014, 2017 and 2019. Maybe the time has come, after five years in which no reference was made in the budget speech Finance Minister Clyde Caruana will say something. It must be noted that, since Robert Abela became Prime Minister in 2020, the law courts in Gozo did not feature in the budget speech.

But, more importantly than "saying" something, the government should "take action" and resolve the issue once and for all. Because it is easy to say plans are in the making, as the government did in 2014, 2017 and 2019, but it's another thing to implement those plans.

The people of Gozo - the members of the judiciary, their staff, the lawyers and all those who for some reason or another are using the law courts' services on the sister island - deserve to know.