No to EU, no to PN, no to Richard Cachia Caruana's project – Astrid's friend James Tyrrell

I’ve noticed a common thread in the anti-museum extension brigade: no to EU, no to PN, no to Richard Cachia Caruana’s project. That’s where most of them are coming from, and the FAA has gathered them together on the operating principle that the enemy of my enemy is my friend.

What an odd lot.

Let’s take that James Tyrrell, for example, who is all over The Times letters pages and commenting furiously on the internet, mainly on www.timesofmalta.com, defending Astrid and celebrating because ‘Richard Cachia Caruana’s project’ has been sabotaged good and proper.

Unfortunately for him, I have a photographic memory, which is how I passed every examination I ever sat, rather than by any actual study. James Tyrrell, writing from Ireland, was all over the newspapers six to seven years ago, urging us to vote No in the referendum and reject European Union membership, presumably on the basis that it had done his Ireland so much harm.

No wonder he was on a personal mission to bomb what he sees as the EU negotiator’s ‘personal project’.

Cherchez la femme? In Malta, it’s more a case of fittex u ssib is-sors tal-hdura.

Here’s one of his latest, written “as a tourist”. I’ve been a tourist many times, but could never envisage a situation in which I might get involved in local issues while on holiday, writing letters to the press obsessively and commenting all over the internet. Some tourist. He did the same for the No vote in the EU campaign.

The Malta Independent, 21 February
Attacking the messenger
by James A. Tyrrell

I find it disgusting that people like Daphne Caruana Galizia have been making personal attacks on Astrid Vella regarding the St John’s Co-Cathedral debacle. Astrid is spokesperson for the FAA, so if Daphne has an axe to grind why doesn’t she attack the NGO rather than its spokesperson? It is one thing to attack what is being said or done by an organisation and quite another to make personal attacks on an individual.

One of the things being said about FAA and Astrid Vella is that they are not qualified to speak on such issues. From what I have read about Ms Vella, she seems very qualified to speak on matters of Maltese history and heritage, and I’m sure the country and indeed Europe don’t hand out awards for nothing.

Obviously as in all organisations you will encounter areas outside your personal expertise and in such cases you bring in outside help. FAA consulted many qualified people including architects, engineers and geologist Peter Gatt in the course of their investigations into this stupid project. This is something the Foundation should have done before spending money on an EIA. ……..

…….It has also been reported that the EU funds earmarked for this project will not be lost, but go to another Maltese tourism-related project, as FAA has always maintained. So this puts a stop to another lie being spread by certain people.

It is my belief speaking as a tourist that the entire country owes a debt of gratitude to FAA for bringing this matter to their attention. I think the government should call for the resignation of the members of the Foundation purely on the grounds of mismanagement of their position and wasting public funds.

James A. Tyrrell
County Antrim
N. Ireland

And here are his comments, posted beneath my letter in The Sunday Times today:

James A. Tyrrell (9 hours, 53 minutes ago)
Trying to stick up for you little Government pals is getting harder isn’t it Daphne? What this case has shown more than any other is that the people have a voice and they can bring about change if they put their minds to it.

By the way Daphne Ms. Vella has a better knowledge of what the public are thinking than you have. Ms. Vella actually goes out and speaks to the public and more importantly listens to what they have to say. She also treats the general public with respect. Your attitude to the general Maltese public is that they are in some way inferior to you and you therefore look down your nose at them and ridicule them at every opportunity. In this very letter you refer to ‘people with a very low level of education’.

No doubt when people respond to what you have written here you will retaliate in the same way that you always do by criticiseing their spelling and their grammar. You will never be able to elevate yourself to the same level as Ms. Vella so I suggest you learn to live with it and get a life.

Daphne Caruana Galizia (8 hours, 30 minutes ago)
Mr Tyrell, my arguments are based on logic and the rule of law. I have no interest in sticking up for my government pals, none of whom can be described as little. I dislike gossip and rumour-mongering, and I am not the sort who seeks a medical opinion from my electrician. I fear mob rule in whatever shape or form, even when it comes disguised as a campaign to save our heritage, apparently from the depredations of the very people who are restoring St John’s to splendour from centuries of neglect.

James A. Tyrrell (6 hours, 6 minutes ago)
@Daphne Caruana Galizia. You say that your arguments are based on logic and the rule of law. I checked you blog last week and found nothing but personal attacks on Astrid Vella, which were to say the least disgusting. Is this your idea of logical debate? With regard to the rule of law are you saying that FAA in some way broke the law in this case, as I’m sure we would love to hear your logic on that one?

You go on to say that you dislike gossip and rumour mongering. Oh please, have you actually read your own blog? As you are such an intelligent person Daphne can you answer me this question? I have asked this question several times and no one has replied on it so here is your chance to shine. Why did the Foundation feel it was right to even suggest digging a massive quarry in front of St. John’s when they themselves stopped a nearby shopkeeper from digging out his basement as they said it risked damaging the structure of the Co. Cathedral?

James A. Tyrrell (6 hours, 6 minutes ago)
@Mary Rose Busietta. This project was not as you say ‘hijacked’ by FAA. You seem to be attributing a level of authority to this organisation, which it simply doesn’t have. As someone has already pointed out the FAA and MS. Vella were simply doing what they were created to do, protecting the environment and heritage of the country and keeping the public informed. I don’t ‘think’ the majority of people were against this madness, I know this to be the case from reading the papers. No matter how Daphnia’s little group of conspirators want to twist it the people spoke and the Government listened.

Daphne Caruana Galizia (4 hours, 34 minutes ago)
James Tyrell: the answer to your question lies in logic and the rule of law. The cafe in question is inserted into the cathedral structure. Therefore when the tenant dug downwards, he dug beneath the cathedral itself, and damaged a cistern. He found himself in court for digging without the landlord’s permission (the landlord being the church and the state). Unfortunately, you are up against somebody who is armed with the facts. You will have to admit that there are some advantages to being able to think clearly, even if you dismiss them. When ‘the people’ are unthinking and uninformed, it is much easier to bend them to your wishes.

James A. Tyrrell (3 hours, 26 minutes ago)
@Daphne Caruana Galizia. So Daphne, according to you and your friends at the Foundation this small discrepancy by an adjacent shopkeeper put at risk the structural integrity of the Cathedral to such a degree that the Foundation took legal action to have him stopped. Yet here we have the same Foundation proposing the idea that a four to five storey deep quarry beside the Cathedral was not going to cause any harm?

And before you say that we never got to find out, as the EIA was not carried out just remember two points. Firstly before an EIA should have been considered a full-scale geological survey should have been done. This would have decided if it were worth actually carrying out an EIA, however the Foundation didn’t commission such a report. As for the EIA no one but an idiot would have any confidence in a process which is bought and paid for by the developer themselves!

James A. Tyrrell (3 hours, 42 minutes ago)
@Mary Rose Busietta. You say that only a handful of people write to the papers and I would agree with you in that regard. However the handful that wrote against this stupid project greatly outnumbered the handful that supported it. I don’t remember reading that the FAA Chairman thinks that he controls development. With regard to your other comment again you are twisting what the man actually said. He was actually defending FAA against the false allegation that they are a group who simply objects to anything. So can I suggest to you that you read things more carefully and formulate your own opinions regarding what the writer is trying to say.

Corinne Vella (4 hours, 46 minutes ago)
James A Tyrell: Someone who shares your name frequently wrote to public fora, including the Times, urging the Maltese to vote ‘no’ in the EU referendum. This puts your current contributions in a negative light. The project in question was to be financed by EU structural funds, and not by taxes paid in Malta. Someone who was so vociferously against Malta’s EU membership would see no sense in any project financed by EU funds, rather than by taxes paid in Malta. That is not the only weak point in your arguments, but it is one you could eliminate by the simple expedient of dissociating yourself from the James Tyrell who opposed Malta’s membership of the EU.

Daphne Caruana Galizia (15 hours, 35 minutes ago)
Mr Tyrell, whether some of the people are ‘my friends’ or not is beside the point. I would have objected most strenuously to the FAA’s manouevres even if they were my enemies. I repeat that my views are rooted in logic: if my objection is to the FAA’s methods, then that objection would hold true irrespective of who sits on the foundation board. Please try to employ some logical thought yourself: the cathedral administration sued its tenant because tenants of whichever building, from a garage in Fgura to a shop in the cathedral walls, cannot undertake structural works without the express permission of the landlord. This tenant would have been sued whatever the extent or nature of the work. There was no mention of prejudicing the structural integriy of the cathedral, but even if there were, you have to draw a clear distinction between burrowing into the foundations of a building and excavating several metres away beneath the square outside. The rest of your comment does not impress me. You are no authority on environmental impact assessments and how they should be carried out. I repeat what I said earlier: I do not go to my electrician for medical advice.

Now here’s Mr Tyrrell the Irish tourist on the subject of a proposed air-strip for Gozo, suggesting that if you take the government a large enough envelope of cash in bribes you will get your planning permission:

James A. Tyrrell

Just what Gozo needs, a big concrete scar covering part of the island. Frank Salt talks about the decline in commerce and tourism. What decline? Everything I’ve read from the MTA has failed to mention any decline. Stop trying to fool the public with these lies. If anything is going to have a long-term effect on tourism it is the continued destruction of the island by so-called Gozitans and Maltese who care more about making a buck than caring for the environment. Having said that I have no doubt that the party of businessmen will be well received by the Government, as the present Government are nothing short of environmental rapists. As we have already seen just apply enough pressure and perhaps take along a big enough envelope and you will get your wish. Once the tourist trade dries up you can use the airstrip as foundations for high-rise apartments and fill them with illegal immigrants who will be the only people interested in going to Gozo!

And here he is getting involved in the Lidl supermarket business, having had enough of relaxing in the sun:

The Times, Wednesday, 9th April 2008

Too Lidl too late
James A. Tyrrell, Larne, Northern Ireland

With regard to the Lidl franchise being extended to Malta, can I ask David Gatt, country manager for Lidl Malta, what steps they are taking to ensure that no stores are built on land outside development zone as is the case with the proposed supermarket in Safi? Mr Gatt has stated in the press that Lidl aims to be a community supermarket. In reply to that statement can I just say that getting the community’s back up by supporting building irregularities is not a very good start to a good community relationship.

When quizzed about the controversy over the permit, Mr Gatt insisted that Lidl Malta is “in no way involved in the application process”. Not good enough Mr Gatt. Construction magnate Charles Polidano made the application on your behalf. Once Lidl realised that irregularities had arisen in the application process, irregularities which we have to remember caused the resignation of a DCC board, they should have called a halt to the construction work and withdrawn their contract with Mr Polidano.

Rather than do that, Mr Gatt has declared that Lidl Malta will still be opening its supermarket in Safi. To me he is saying that yes the law was broken, yes irregularities occurred, but we’ve cleverly got away with it by passing the blame onto the constructor and Mepa. It would appear that Mr Gatt and Lidl have realised at a very early stage how things work in Malta.

And here’s James Tyrrell on how he feels about the EU and immigration policy:

James A. Tyrrell (2 weeks, 4 days ago)

Bill Millam you ask ‘Oh God! When the heck is someone gonna put a stop to this madness?’ Well the answer to that is simple, probably never. To put a stop to it you need a Government to tell the EU where to go with regard to its immigration policy. You don’t have such a Government. What you do have is a Government who welcomes illegal immigrants with open arms. They give them somewhere to stay, free food, free water, free health care, mobile phones and credits so they can invite their relatives to join them. Under the present policies this is not going to change. The Maltese Government is sending these illegals back home with thousands of Euro in their pockets to enable them to start a business in their own country. When they get back their friends ask them where they got the money and they say from the Maltese Government. Next day their friends are in a boat bound for Malta. Either the Maltese Government has to take this situation in hand and sort it out once and for all or the Maltese people have to do it for them.

No to James Tyrrell! I imagine he’s just teed off because the Yes campaign won despite his best efforts, and I was part of it. And here he is, roughly seven years later, still trying to convince people by means of irrational thought and illogical reasoning. It didn’t work in the EU campaign, James, and it will work only temporarily now. Put your revenge in the microwave and eat it warm. That way, it won’t get stuck in your gullet.