Jan 09 - Government: Opposition Have Jumped On The Bandwagon Without Checking The Facts
The Government says it has now had the opportunity to investigate further the use of Gibraltar’s sports facilities by private entities dating back to 2005.
It is clear, it says, that the £7,094.38 charged for this year’s Christmas and New Year Galas at the Tercentenary Hall represents a higher fee than that charged for all the events that have taken place there since 2005 put together.
This includes about £2,000 charged to cover costs only for a Marillion Concert in April 2007 also at the Tercentenary Hall which, according to the records, remains outstanding to this day. There were several other concerts and events for which no fees were charged at all, according to the Government.
The Government says that the record also shows details of the event organised by persons connected with the entity that started the current complaints. This was the Love Festival which took place in the MUGA and adjacent areas of the stadium on 15 June 2014 and for which only £1,001 was charged. This same entity, based in Ocean Village, has now complained that others, who have paid seven times more, are now doing what they themselves have done only a few months back.
It is important, stresses Number Six, to reiterate that these are not Government events. They are private events. A Government event like the New Year’s Eve celebrations in Casemates does go out to tender and is awarded accordingly. It is “bordering on the ridiculous” says the Government, and it displays a “considerable lack of knowledge” to suggest that a private event should go out to tender in the same way when the two are “completely different concepts.”
A statement issued earlier today concluded: “It is clear that the Opposition have jumped onto this bandwagon without properly checking the facts beforehand. If they want to get out of the hole they should stop digging.”
