Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/767061
14 2016: Looking back maltatoday, SUNDAY, 24 DECEMBER 2016 What they said… Ahmed Bugre (director of the Foundation for Shelter and Support to Migrants) Integration is also about being given the prospect of long-term residency, or even citizenship. That is when a person becomes fully part of society Martine Cassar (Refugee Commissioner) If a person's life is in danger because of the situation in the country, he or she would not technically be a refugee, but would still be recognised as eligible for protection Angelo Chetcuti (Malta Football Association secretary-general) That's also what makes it such a beautiful game. It brings people together. It creates a lot of emotion. So it's worth preserving... and I would say developing and nurturing it as well. And that is my worry: people who are genuinely passionate about the game are losing their enthusiasm, because of all the things that are going on... Deborah Schembri (Parliamentary Secretary for Planning) What I'm saying is this: tall buildings will happen. Progress will happen. Development will happen. Let's not allow it to happen haphazardly Mario de Marco (PN deputy leader) The Panama debacle has thrown an unwanted spotlight on Malta, and the Prime Minister's handling of the situation limited our ability to fend off criticism. But fight we must; and fight we will, through solid arguments that show that onshore fiscal jurisdictions have served Europe well in the past Edward Scicluna (finance minister) Did you know that in Italy there is no minimum wage? In Britain, it was only introduced under Blair in the 1990s. So what? There is life without a minimum wage. It's a government intrusion Ruth Farrugia (director of President's Foundation for the Wellbeing of Society) The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child gives children all sorts of rights, but if you can't access the justice system, you can't access any of them... Anglu Xuereb (entrepreneur) By my calculations, a monorail system wouldn't cost more than half a billion. Closer to €300 million, in fact. The bulk of the expense concerns the stations: lifts, escalators, software systems, etc. The actual tunnelling could be done for €55 million. It's less expensive than people think; unless it's underwater These are some of the best quotes from the weekly interviews carried by MaltaToday with various protagonists from the political, social and cultural spheres