[WATCH] Parliament gets new, young MP after Julie Zahra brings daughter to work

Parliament’s average age was brought down significantly on Monday evening after Nationalist MP Julie Zahra brought her daughter Nina Mae to work.

Sitting among the MPs was the dark-haired four-year-old girl, looking curiously around the parliamentary chamber while munching on some food.

To the amusement of Zahra’s fellow colleagues, her daughter even made it to Parliament TV as the camera panned to party whip Robert Cutajar.

Bringing your child to work is not uncommon for Malta’s MPs, with Ministers Julia Farrugia Portelli and Miriam Dalli having done the same in the past.

Much has been said over the years on the need of childcare facilities in parliament, especially with more women in parliament after a gender corrective mechanism was introduced.

Before parliament convened this month, the Nationalist Party suggested that more family-friendly measures should be adopted in parliament.

In 2018 there had been an effort to adopt family-friendly hours in parliament, whereby Wednesday sittings would start at 4pm and end at 7:30pm. Before this, parliament's normal sittings used to start at 6pm and finish at 9pm, extending to 9:30pm after the adjournment speeches were made. Parliament now meets on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday between 4pm and 7pm.

Shortly after the 2013 election then Labour MP Deborah Schembri had asked for sittings to start earlier, allowing MPs to spend time with their families at a more decent time after the House adjourns. 

However, the request failed to gain traction, something that changed after the 2017 election when both sides agreed to a gradual introduction of earlier meeting times.