Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/608340
maltatoday, SUNDAY, 29 NOVEMBER 2015 26 Letters Send your letters to: The Editor, MaltaToday, MediaToday Ltd. Vjal ir-Rihan, San Gwann SGN 9016 | Fax: (356) 21 385075 E-mail: newsroom@mediatoday.com.mt. Letters to the Editor should be concise. No pen names are accepted. News • 27 November 2005 MALTATODAY has presented a formal request to the European Ombudsman on the refusal by the European Parliament's bureau to grant the newspaper access to Malta's MEP's accounts for their first term. MaltaToday has made appeal to the EU Treaty and the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union in its bid for access to the accounts, stressing that openness strengthens democracy and in- forms better the decisions of the Union's citizens. The bureau rejected MaltaToday's re- quest for access after this had been origi- nally turned down by the secretary-gen- eral of the European Parliament, Julian Priestley. The decision was taken by Czech MEP Miroslav Ouzky (EPP), who told this newspaper that disclosure of the accounts would undermine the MEPs' privacy and individual integrity. The newspaper's application for the dis- closure of the "secret" accounts was not even up for discussion amongst the 20- person bureau, with the official response having already been drafted prior to the meeting, informed sources told MaltaTo- day. Green MEP Gérard Onesta was the only member of the bureau to have protested against the fact that MaltaToday's request was on the agenda without discussion. The 20-person bureau, which takes care of financial decisions concerning MEPs, is composed of vice-presidents from the po- litical groups, mainly made up of social- ist and European People's Party MEPs, including the parliament president Josep Borrell Fontelles. MaltaToday had asked all five MEPs to present their statements of account for their first year in Brussels back in July. In its application to the bu- reau, MaltaToday put forward its case that the disclosure of Malta's MEPs' ac- counts were of interest to the Maltese and European taxpayer, who are also constitu- ents of the MEPs in question. Ouzky had said that "as to the fact that persons who present themselves to the public must expect some degree of public scrutiny" the MEP accounts were already subject to "internal and external checks", namely the Budgetary Control committee in the European parliament, and the Eu- ropean Court of Auditors. Nobody out of Malta's five MEPs has so far accepted to disclose their expendi- ture and income from the European parliament, which is believed to tally up to some Lm40,000 a year, making them amongst the highest-paid Maltese indi- viduals today. 26 Not the kind of facility we want Allow me to share my thoughts regarding the proposed disabil- ity hub, as yet the message is not at all clear. All I can gather from news snippets is that an area large enough to build a suitable pool, gym, premises for respite care services and for NGOs that cater for persons with disabili- ties, a block or two for residen- tial f lats suitable for some 60 disabled persons and spaces for retail shops or catering estab- lishments is planned. If this is the case, then I agree with former KNPD chairman Joe Camilleri that this intended hub, which may be motivated by the right intentions, will be a step backwards, instead of forwards, for disabled persons as a whole. I fear that once this is estab- lished as an intended one-stop- shop it would be actually a large residential unit with its 60 occu- pants as a focal point, and will end up creating an isolated area for disabled people where they will function in almost com- plete isolation, since all services and facilities would end up in a dumping hub rather than a dis- ability hub. Are all the existing services and facilities such as day care centres and respite services at Mtarfa and the Independent living centre at Hal Far to be dismantled and set up in this proposed hub? If this is the case it would be a waste of taxpayers' money. As a person rendered wheel- chair bound due to a spinal chord injury and who lived life from both sides of the divide, I know from experience that our non-disabled peers do not care to mingle in an area within a large cocktail of all sorts of persons with disabilities unless they are employees, and with all due respect neither do persons with disabilities themselves. I know quite a few persons with physical disabilities who know what they want out of life: they want to mingle on board a regular route bus and at regu- lar bus stops, in mainstream schools, at regular work places and at the usual, popular places of entertainment. I know a lot more persons with disabilities, especially persons with an intellectual impair- ment, who deep down in their hearts and minds have the same wishes and desire. But they are often strongly, and wrongly, in- f luenced by their loved ones to create a future for themselves in isolated, sheltered homes where they are encouraged to mingle with 'their own kind'. Understandably, parents often fear that their disabled offspring will experience abuse and this is why they prefer custodial care to independent living for their children. The government should be addressing the desires of disabled people and the parents' concerns, not opting to satisf y the latter group only. NGOs run by non-disabled people but speaking on behalf of persons with intellectual impairments press hard for premises with this social per- spective and they have a strong lobby with the authorities, and hence this proposed hub. I now live at Akwarell, one of the homes in the community established by Dar tal-Provi- denza, and my zest for life has now increased and my family's mind is at rest, living within the community at Qawra. Through this my neighbours know me for whom I am and not stere- otyped as 'that poor guy in the wheelchair' and thanks to the brave decision taken by the Dar tal-Providenza to set up small homes within the community and not taking fast solutions by housing large groups in residen- tial blocks, in spite of the fact that their financial resources is the generosity of the public and divine providence. Yes, indeed we should tap tax- payers and EU funding (while we still have the opportunity) for €12 million, to create further community homes as a way forward. We should be invest- ing in more and better trained carers, possibly through the setting up of a training centre, to professionally train carers to work with persons with physical impairments, with persons with different levels of intellectual impairments and people with challenging behaviour. Carers in the care industry are hard to come by and they should be trained professionally. The proposed measure of the government covering half the costs for those elderly persons who opt to employ live-in carers is an excellent initiative and it should also be applicable to persons with disabilities to encourage every option of living within the community. I also challenge the Prime Minister, the leader of the Opposition, minister of Social Policy and the shadow minister to spend a day in a wheelchair to see the hardships and social struggles we face. Moreover, I urge a serious constructive debate regarding this proposed hub. Tonio Mercieca Qawra MaltaToday takes MEP accounts request to EU Ombudsman