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GOVERNMENT OF GIBRALTAR
PRESS RELEASE No. 37/2002
07 March 2002
The Gibraltar Government notes with regret the incomplete nature of the comments made by FCO Minister Peter Hain to BBC Northern Ireland.
Mr Hain said that he could not see why we were complaining because there would be a referendum in which we could take or leave any agreement. But he did not say, as he never says to the British public, that the FCO's intention is that a declaration or agreement of principles would be entered into by UK and Spain, including the question of sovereignty, and that this would survive a referendum,
If the UK proposes to commit to such principles regardless of a referendum result he should say so, so that the British public can make an informed judgement about his 'empty chair" charge and also about his intentions. If the UK does not intend to sign up to any principles relating to sovereignty then he should make this unambiguously clear to the people of Gibraltar.
Mr Hain says that "it is better to be there at the negotiating table putting your point of view as we've asked the Government of Gibraltar to do". This is the very crux of the matter. Who attends negotiations only to "express their view", whilst others make the agreements? These are therefore negotiations only between UK and Spain in which we simply express views, which may or may not prevail in their agreement on principles.
If they agree principles of sovereignty and other things contrary to the "views that we express", these agreements remains on the table to our prejudice even if we reject the implementation details in a referendum.
Mr Hain says that he doesn't see why we are complaining. The Gibraltar Government believes that it should be as clear to him as it is to most other people, including hundreds of MPs at Westminster.
He also says that he does not think that the people of Gibraltar understand why the Chief Minister will not attend talks on these terms. This is an extraordinary statement and difficult to reconcile with the facts as known to Mr Hain and to the Foreign Office. It will be clearer to Mr Hain, after the 18th March, that the people of Gibraltar fully understand and support the reasons why their Government is not attending these talks on the terms available.
Occupancy
may be up but hotel beds are down
Gibraltar Hotel Association - Press Release
25 February 2002
The Gibraltar Hotel Association would like to clarify that our previous press release in reference to hotel occupancy is constructive, it was not aimed to be critical of Government but to be factual of its successes.
The G.H.A. press release also focuses on the under performance of the U.K. tour operator market as a percentage of Gibraltar's hotels overall business mix. This in fact should range between 40% and 50% of the overall business and is running at 30%. In U.K., province U.K. hotels have acceptable bedroom occupancy according to reputable sources that range between 70% and 75%. The UK province hotels according to the same sources have achieved for the past three years the above expected bedroom occupancy and this is the gap, which the G.H.A. is focusing on. It is also fair to say that the overall guest nights which the Minister is making reference to in his letter are gross of military, commercial shipping and local corporate business which obviously the G.T.B. have no control over and they certainly do not come to Gibraltar for the desire of visiting the destination.
It is too simplistic to talk about statistics especially if we are bench marking different situations. While the Government statistics are expressed in guest nights the hotel industry works on bedroom occupancy. A hotel bedroom is occupied regardless of how many people are sleeping at any given night of the year It is also to be taken into consideration that whilst the Minister is stating in his letter to the Chronicle that the 2001 hotels results were the highest in the last thirteen years, he is not taking into consideration that from 1988 to 1992 Gibraltar had eleven hotels with a total of 1050 bedrooms, today Gibraltar hotels are seven and offer 600 bedrooms every night. The bedroom stock available has been significantly reduced by 42% as a consequence of the under performance of the industry. Therefore it is incorrect to compare the occupancy from 1988 against 2001 because it is calculated on a difference of 450 bedrooms
The Minister, in his letter to the Gibraltar Chronicle of the 20th February 2002, is mistaken in saying that last year's hotel occupancy has only been exceeded since 1974 on six occasions, because as published in the Gibraltar Government statistics report, Hotel Occupancy 2000, the bedroom stock during those years was far greeter than 2001.
Hotel occupancy between 1972 and 1991 exceeded 2001's 178,951 guest nights every year, ranging from between 307,000 in 1975 to 197,000 in 1990.
The GHA is also concerned with the Government's desire to attract another hotel to Gibraltar. How do the G.T.B. envisage sustaining another player in a market, which already has 33% of capacity unsold? Another hotel will further reduce the overall hotel occupancy especially considering that air access to Gibraltar is still limited to London airports with no other airlines established to date.
(25.02.02)
OPPOSITION PRESS RELEASE No 408
12 February 2002
(Statement by Mari Montegriffo - Spokesperson for Health)
It has come to our knowledge from relatives of in-patients at St Bernard's Hospital, who wish to remain anonymous, but who have agreed that we place their names on our records, that last week, they were appalled to witness an incident involving Minister Hubert Corby.
Mr Corby had previously had his operation cancelled due to shortages of beds, and on this occasion, he was allocated a bed at Godley Ward, the female surgical ward.
However, in order to accommodate him, a post-operative patient, who was very susceptible to infection, was removed from the side-room and this was given instead to the Minister.
Having once gone through the turmoil of other patients, it appears that the second time round, the Minister' was given preferential treatment over other patients.
We have also been informed by relatives of an elderly in-patient, that they were put on notice two Sundays ago, that they might be required to feed their relative tome midday, because there was a shortage of nurses, and if they refused to do so, the patient would miss the midday lunch meal.
These further incidents prove the dramatic deterioration occurring in our Health Services for quite a number of years now, and as the Government have accused us of inventing complaints, we are bringing them to the notice of the public, as and when they occur.
Government of Gibraltar
Press Release No. 27/2002
Date: 11 February 2002
Rocky Pigeon 2002 is one of a series of annual exercises aimed at testing Gibraltar's preparedness and capability in the case of a nuclear accident. It will take place on Thursday 14 February and both MOD and Gibraltar Government departments will be involved undertaking the roles and responsibilities which would fall on them in the case of such an incident.
The exercise has been held many times before, but has on this occasion been extended to included the simulated distribution of Potassium Iodate Tablets (PITS) to the population, as would happen in a real life scenario. PITS contain stable (ie. non-radioactive) Iodine which would minimise the uptake of radioactive Iodine, emitted as a result of a nuclear accident, into the thyroid gland.
In circumstances where it may be considered likely that a reactor accident might occur and that this could affect the population, a series of emergency measures would be implemented to minimise the possible risks. One of these measures would be the distribution of PITS. Members of the Royal Gibraltar Regiment would distribute these tablets, together with an explanatory leaflet, to all affected households starting with those most at risk according to their location, wind direction etc.
During the planned exercise on 14 February, member of the Regiment will be distributing explanatory leaflets (as opposed to Potassium lodate Tablets in a real life scenario) to households within a number of selected areas throughout Gibraltar. The public is asked to cooperate by answering the door if their homes are within these selected districts. This will allow for existing plans to be tested and assessed and, if necessary, improved to provide more efficient protection.
There is absolutely no danger to the public during the exercise. We thank you for your co-operation.
STATEMENT BY THE GSLP/LIBERAL OPPOSITION
P R E S S R E L E A S E 40411 February 2002
The Opposition notes that the British Government is repeatedly saying that Gibraltar cannot continue as a duty-free, low-tax status and floated the idea of changes to our terms of membership of the European Union in relation to the Customs Union and VAT. It is very surprising that in the course of his address to the Chamber of Commerce last week Mr Caruana said that there was no threat to the economy and that Gibraltar could comply with international obligations without any problem.
In the debate in the House of Commons that took place last week, in one of his interventions, the Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said the following. "One thing is certain: the, as it were, duty-free, low tax status of Gibraltar will end over the next four or five years. That has nothing directly to do with the Government of Spain or the UK..." Mr Straw has also said in the past that Mr Caruana was fully aware of this.
The Opposition considers that if Mr Caruana is aware of the of the situation it is very odd that he has not said anything about it to the Opposition, the House of Assembly or the general public, or even the people in the industry. It will be recalled that at the time Mr Caruana declared that the EU Code of Conduct was voluntary and did not apply here, and that the only problem with the OECD was that Spain did not want the letter of commitment to the OECD come from Gibraltar.
It is not clear why Jack Straw thinks that the finance centre and our low tax status is going to disappear in a few years whether we like it or not and the Gibraltar Government has not explained this either.
It is also significant that there are reports of a massive injection of EU funds for Gibraltar in order to replace the revenue that would be lost as a result, and that securing these funds would be much easier as part of the Anglo-Spanish deal. In this context it is important to note that the new President of the European Parliament Pat Cox, who met Mr Caruana for ten minutes this week, also seems to be aware of the large amount of EU funds that would flow as part of the Anglo-Spanish deal in order to reposition the economy, and is reported as saying that the Parliament would support the funding should such a deal materialise.
It is therefore absolutely crucial to establish beyond any doubt whether Mr Straw knows what he is talking about or not and if not to dispel this once and for all. If there is a need to do away with our special fiscal status which allows a different duty and tax regime from the rest of the EU then this has to be indentified and debated in the House of Assembly and would involve a major reorganision of the economic direction that Gibraltar has been following since we joined the EU in 1973. This is particularly important since the way the matter has been raised in the context of an Anglo-Spanish deal on sovereignty, it has been implied that there is a compelling need to to do this.
OPPOSITION PRESS RELEASE
6th Feb 2002
(Statement made by Spokesperson for Health, Mari Montegriffo)
The Government of Gibraltar, in their latest announcement about their proposed pilot domiciliary care scheme for the elderly, are in effect admitting that there is a problem which they need to tackle. Therefore, the Opposition finds it most unfair that they continue to put the blame on the problems of shortages of beds at St Bernard's on patients who are unable to receive proper care in their homes What is clear by the Government's reaction to public criticisms is that they have allowed the problems in our Health Services to continue for far too long.
It is quite absurd for the Government to state that there are people who do not want to return to their homes, once they are cured. Are they suggesting that they are enjoying their stay as if they were in a holiday camp? In the eight years of a GSLP Government, the situation described by the Government certainly did not exist, and if it had, we would never have coerced people to leave or threaten them with court orders.
Even the Government's decision to mix male and female patients in all of the wards, has not produced any positive results. Indeed, the situation on the acute shortages of bed; was worsened by the Government when they decided to house the kitchen in the old Lewis Stagnetto Ward, and they converted the old kitchen area into a rehabilitation centre This meant the loss of much needed beds.
The Opposition hold the Government politically answerable for any shortfalls in our Health Services provided to users. More so, we have never criticised or put any blame on members of the Staff of the Gibraltar Health Authority. Quite the contrary, as on many occasions we have said that were it not for the efforts of the people working within the services they would have declined even further. Also in many of our press releases we have emphasised that the responsibility lies with the Government of the day. The policies in any Government Department are political ones and any administrative changes must be defended by the Government. When in office, the GSLP took full responsibility for any statements made, more so, if they were replies to criticisms from the then Opposition.
It is therefore completely unacceptable for the Minister for Health, Dr Bernard Linares to hide behind an anonymous Civil Servant, described as a Government Spokesman. Nor is it either acceptable for a Civil Servant, that would have to serve impartially a fixture different administration, to enter into political debates by describing the views of an elected member of the House of Assembly, as cynical.
T&GWU PRESS RELEASE
The T&GWU wish to issue the following public statement regarding the harmonisation package agreed for industrial staff between the MOD T&GWU Convenor - Bro. Victor Ochello and M.O.D Management.
The T&GWU both in the U.K and locally has been fighting for many years for the eradication of the discrimination that has always existed between non-industrials and industrial employees in the M.O.D. Our position has always been that there should be a single status for all employees in th.e M.O.D, and elsewhere. As regards Gibraltar Government industrial employees, once we get the harmonisation package agreed in the M.O.D, we will be concentrating in getting the package introduced in the Gibraltar Government for industrial employees. We have already achieved parity of pensionable rights between non-industrial and industrial employees in the Gibraltar Government.
The Harmonisation package represents an historic advancement for industrial workers, which we have been pursuing incessantly for many years. We are now nearing the end of an Objective as this long-standing grievance is about to be achieved.
HARMONISATION PACKAGE
1. 37 HOUR WEEK
The reduction of the working from 39 to 37 hours will result in the harmonisation of the industrial non-industrial core working week. All staff will he conditioned to a 37 hour week.
2. MONTHLY PAY
The move to monthly pay is an integral part of the agreement and w~1] be introduced in parallel with 37 hour week. In recognition of the fact that this change will have an impact on the manner in which members manage their financial affairs, M.O.D Management, to help our members to adjust to these new arrangements will provide guidance. Financial assistance has been agreed between the T&GWU/MOD, and will be provided to mitigate the effects of the transfer to monthly pay.
All members will receive a single non-recoverable, but taxable payment, and offered a tax and interest free loan, repayable over a period of two years.
3. BALLOT VOTE
All T&GWU members will he consulted in a democratic exercise ,by a secret ballot vote that will take place on Thursday 7th February in the Naval Base.
4. OVERTIME PAYMENT
As from 1st January 2002, industrial employees both in the MOD and Gibraltar Government will be paid double time for Saturday working. In the Gibraltar Government all overtime worked in Public Holidays will also be paid at double time. Previously this overtime was paid at time and a half.
Government of Gibraltar
Press Release No 23/2002
Date: 31 January 2002
In view of the repeated attacks by the Opposition misrepresenting and criticising the efforts of our officers in St Bernard's Hospital to manage the availability of beds in the Hospital the Gibraltar Health Authority finds it necessary to explain the true facts of the situation.
There are 166 beds altogether in St Bernard's Hospital and 140 of these are available for non-paediatric or maternity cases, Of these 140 beds, 45 are currently occupied by elderly persons who have been clinically assessed by doctors as not requiring hospital medical care. Many of these patients have been formally discharged by the doctors but have refused to leave the hospital.
This bed blockage results in a general shortage of beds available for emergencies and/or patients genuinely ill with the consequent cancellation on occasions of elective surgery on these patients.
Non-medical cases presently occupying beds in the hospital on a residential basis fall into three categories. Some elderly people live alone, have no family to look after them and cannot look after themselves. The Government naturally accepts moral responsibility for care of such people. But a clinical hospital is not the place to do this. Accordingly Government has invested large sums of money to upgrade and expand residential and respite facilities in Mount Alvernia its capacity is being nearly doubled.
Other elderly persons need some help and support in their own homes, or their families need some regular nursing support to look after them at home. The Government will deliver this through a pilot domiciliary care scheme which is about to be launched to provide regular nursing and care support at home to elderly people who need it, whether they live alone or with a family member who cannot cope.
However, the Government considers it unfair that others, who do not fall into either of the two above categories, permanently occupy hospital beds to the detriment of the rest of the community's quality of health service. St Bernard's Hospital cannot exist simply to relieve a very limited number of families of the burden of caring for their elderly folk.
A Government spokesman comments: "Whereas, on the one hand, the Opposition has attacked Government by criticising the shortage of beds in the hospital, they also cynically criticise the hospital management for trying to overcome the abuse by some people of hospital facilities, at the expense of other genuine patients in real need of medical care."
GOVERNMENT OF GIBRALTAR
Press Release No. 18/2002
24 January 2002
Holocaust Memorial Day
Gibraltar will be joining many other countries in commemorating Holocaust Memorial Day on Sunday 27 January 2002. The day marks the anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau.
The idea first took shape in January 2000, following a forty-four nation conference in Stockholm, Sweden. At the conclusion of the conference, the heads of delegations unanimously agreed to sign the following Declaration:
"We, High Representatives of Governments at the Stockholm International Forum on the Holocaust, declare that:
1. The Holocaust fundamentally challenged the foundations of civilisation. The unprecedented character of the Holocaust will always hold universal meaning. After half a century, it remains an event close enough in time that survivors can still bear witness to the horrors that engulfed the Jewish people. The terrible suffering of the many millions of other victims of the Nazis has left an indelible scar across Europe as well.
2. The magnitude of the Holocaust, planned and carried out by the Nazis, must be forever seared in our collective memory. The selfless sacrifices of those who defied the Nazis, and sometimes gave their own lives to protect or rescue the Holocaust's victims, must also be inscribed in our hearts, The depths of that horror, and the heights of their heroism can be touchstones in our understanding of the human capacity for evil and for good.
3 With humanity still scarred by genocide, ethnic cleansing, racism, anti-semitism and xenophobia, the international community shares a solemn responsibility to fight those evils. Together we must uphold the terrible truth of the Holocaust against those who deny it, We must strengthen the moral commitment of our peoples, and the political commitment of our governments, to ensure that future generations can understand the causes of the Holocaust and reflect upon its consequences.
4. We pledge to strengthen our efforts to promote education, remembrance and research about the Holocaust, both in those of our countries that have already done much and those that choose to join this effort.
5. We share a commitment to encourage the study of the Holocaust in all its dimensions. We will promote education about the Holocaust in our schools and universities, in our communities and encourage it in other institutions.
6. We share a commitment to commemorate the victims of the Holocaust and to honour those who stood against it. We will encourage appropriate forms of Holocaust remembrance, including an annual Day of Holocaust Remembrance, in our countries.
7. We share a commitment to throw light on the still obscured shadows of the Holocaust. We will take all necessary steps to facilitate the opening of archives in order to ensure that alt documents bearing on the Holocaust are available to researchers.
8. It is appropriate that this, the first major international conference of the new millennium, declares its commitment to plant the seeds of a better future amidst the soil of a bitter past. We empathise with the victims' suffering and draw inspiration from their struggle. Our commitment must be to remember the victims who perished, respect the survivors still with us, and reaffirm humanity's common aspiration for mutual understanding and justice."
Holocaust Memorial Day reflects upon a tragic and disturbing past, and focuses on the mass destruction of European Jewry and the variety of victim groups persecuted by the Nazis But the day also recognises that the type of behaviour demonstrated in Nazi Germany was not a phenomenon limited to Germany or to the mid-20th Century. Atrocities in Cambodia, Bosnia Herzegovina, Ruanda and Kosovo, to name a few, amply demonstrate the propensity of human beings to murder en masse. The Holocaust Memorial Day seeks to underscore the importance of understanding and combating the processes that lead to such tragedy.
Holocaust Memorial Day is therefore as much about the future as it is about the past.
Locally, His Lordship the Bishop has organised a multi-faith memorial prayer service at the Piazza on Sunday at 1 pm. A range of educational and community activities are also being considered in time for the next Holocaust Memorial Day.
GOVERNMENT OF GIBRALTAR
Press Release No. 16-2002
24 January 2002
During the course of refurbishment and decoration works undertaken at Knights Court last year, a number of complaints were made by tenants regarding the possible risks posed by the presence of asbestos material in the balcony panels in the building which were replaced by the Buildings and Works Department. A formal complaint was also lodged with the Ombudsman who was critical of the manner in which the works had been carried out.
As a result of this, the Government appointed an outside independent health and safety expert to investigate the matter. The Government has considered his report which has identified a number of management and proc.edural deficiencies in the working of the Department in relation to the handling of asbestos. The Report also makes a series of recommendations which the Government intends to implement namely:
- the removal of debris in the area surrounding Knight's Court
- the conduct of an asbestos survey of all Government properties to establish an asbestos register
- the upgrading of collection and storage arrangements
- the formaIisation of notification procedures for asbestos work
- medical examination of the workforce involved in the refurbishment works
The Government will also be taking other steps internally to deal with the management deficiencies which have been highlighted in the Report in relation to this matter.
A copy of the Report has been given to the Knight's Court Tenants Association for their information.
GOVERNMENT OF GIBRALTAR PRESS
OFFICE
PRESS RELEASE No. 14/2002
23 January 2002
On the 16th November 2001 the Spanish Government
published a Resolution in its "Boletin Oficial del Estado"
laying down the terms and conditions under which it purported to
allocate an additional 70000 telephone numbers to Gibraltar.
The Government, the Telecoms Regulator and the Gibraltar telephone
companies have now completed their separate examinations and
assessments of the Resolution and have each, separately, concluded
that the Spanish offer is unacceptable, variously on political,
regulatory and commercial grounds.
The offer has therefore been rejected for the following principal
reasons:
1. The offer is based on the total integration of Gibraltar's
numbering plan into the Spanish numbering plan in that Gibraltar is
allocated Spanish numbers, rather than (as is the case at present)
specified parts of Gibraltar's own numbering plan being accessible
from Spain.
2. The Spanish Regulator is purporting to allocate all these '"
numbers to a Spanish telecoms licencee, namely Telefonica, who then
sub-assigns numbers to Gibraltar licencees. This completely
by-passes the Gibraltar Government's ownership of the Gibraltar
numbering plan, puts our ability to enforce and comply with our
telecom laws and the EU telecom directives in the hands of Spanish
interests. The Regulation also usurps the powers of the Gibraltar
Licensing Authority and the Regulatory powers and responsibilities
of the Gibraltar Telecommunications Regulator, effectively making
Telefonica the Regulator for Gibraltar telephone numbers.
3. In flagrant breach of EU law, the offer puts Gibraltar's
telephone numbers in the hands of the incumbent monopoly operator in
Spain, (Telefonica) an international competitor of existing and
potential Gibraltar telecom service providers.
4. The offer does not address the issue of mobile telephone roaming.
Commenting on the situation, a Government spokesman said: "This
offer is politically unacceptable to the Government. It is also
wholly unacceptable from a commercial point of view to the Gibraltar
telecom companies, and from a regulatory point of view, to the
Gibraltar Regulator. It is hard to understand why the Foreign Office
has been so quick to so warmly welcome this manifestly flawed
offer".
Gibraltar Inter-Agencies
24th January 02
The Gibraltar Inter Agencies (GIA) will be holding a
Drugs Awareness Day on Saturday the 26th January at the Piazza, Main
Street, starting at 10.00 hrs and finishing at approximately 14.00
hrs
On the day, informative literature on drugs and the dangers of drug
misuse will be distributed freely to the general public. Posters
relating to illicit drugs and simulated drugs substances will be
placed on display together with an assortment of drug's
paraphernalia.
A counsellor from Bruce's Farm Rehabilitation Centre together with
rehabilitating patients will be in attendance to offer advice on the
dangers of illicit drug addiction
The Customs Drugs Dog section will also be in attendance under the
control of their skilled handlers, demonstrating their skills in
searching for illicit drugs. Two displays will take place at
approximately 11 .00 hrs and 12.00 hrs.
The Gibraltar Inter Agencies is committed to bring to the notice of
the public matters of Community Safety and Crime Concerns through
Public Awareness Days.
The following departments form The Gibraltar Inter Agencies; -
City Fire Brigade, Defence Fire Service, Gibraltar Health
Authority, Gibraltar Port Authority, St John Ambulance, JIM
Customs, Gibraltar Services Police and the Royal Gibraltar Police.
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