Wandering into Valletta the other day, I was accosted – in the nicest possible sense, of course – by a very sociable Irish couple who wanted to know if I knew anything about that interesting ruin at the top of Republic Street.

Hailing from Dublin, a city that knows how to take its culture (and, indeed, all culture,) seriously, they were fascinated by the story of the Opera House.

It came as no surprise to me to learn that they were utterly astounded, to say nothing of horrified, at the thought that it had taken more than 60 years for Valletta and Malta to get round to thinking – just thinking – about doing something positive with the site. I share that view. Why has it taken so long?

The husband, in particular, was highly critical of the fact that, after all this time, there isn’t as much as a plaque – or even a hand-written notice (which seems much more Maltese) – anywhere on display on the walls to tell the visitor what the site is or to explain anything about its history. His parting shot to me was: “If this country can’t find the resources in 60 years to explain town planning courtesy of the Luftwaffe, how the hell do they expect to fund putting up a brand new opera house or even a parliament building?”

He has a point. As usual, I have a personal interest to declare. I am extremely fond of good opera, particularly of the “grand genre” and I would dearly love Malta have its own national theatre where this could be done properly. But, as we await the formal release of Renzo Piano’s detailed proposals for the City Gate and the Opera House site, and presumably all points in between, I have to say that this area is not the solution.

First, I believe the idea of rebuilding the Opera House or even an opera house on the ruins is a non-starter. Bluntly, the area is far too small on which to pitch a 21st Century quality opera or concert hall. I have been told that that the old Opera House offered something around 1000 seats, no more. That was at time when music lovers were (a) rather shorter and slimmer than they are today; and (2) demanded much less in the way in the way of comfort, amenities and facilities than those which are standard nowadays.

So, it is not at all likely that any new replacement could offer much more than 1000 seats, and probably it would have to be fewer (think health and safely requirements). This simply could not produce a revenue stream anything like adequate to service the cost of bringing quality opera productions. An example: Joseph Calleja is currently getting great reviews for his performance in “La Traviata” in the Royal Opera House in London – Celleja’s voice is “shiveringly good” wrote the London Times and I imagine that’s the level of production that the ambitious would want to bring here.

Aye, that’ll be right - for fewer than 1000 punters per night? Don’t even think about taking that route!

Mr Piano’s plans suggest – or, at least, the inspired leaks so far would have it – that the Opera House site should be turned into an open-air multi-purpose theatre.

Predictably, this being Malta, the nay-sayers have sprung out of whatever woodwork they inhabit during daylight hours. This is an insult, the exclaim, it’ll be a roofless theatre which can only be used when the weather permits. The good burghers of Verona do not seem one little bit insulted that their world-famous opera season is staged in a roofless theatre each and every year, and has been for a very long time.

The Times (the Malta one, this time) quotes the afore-mentioned Mr Calleja as saying that Malta is “replete” with excellent open-air locations. Not in its capital city, it isn’t.

Every one of the critics seems to completely miss the point that having a concert venue which admittedly can be used only in the summer months very neatly complements the fact that Valletta has a little gem of a theatre, The Manoel, which cannot be used at all during the summer months... because this country has never been able to afford installing adequate ventilation.

I know that “The Arts (spelled with a capital ‘f’ of course)” do not believe in troubling their superior little heads with such sordid matters as finance. That is why the phrase “starving in a garret” is synonymous: see “La Traviata” for the full explanation. But it is time to get real: Malta can build only what it can afford to build.

The plain fact is that a full-scale, state-of-the-art, national opera house and concert hall is, and will remain, pie in the sky until Malta gets round to developing a holistic, strategic plan to deliver the arts to the audience this country wants to attract. Considering that it has taken more than 60 years to get even this far, I’m not holding my breath.

And finally, in the name of both the Great- and Lesser- Spotted Whinger, don’t let Parliament anywhere near whatever might be developed at the City Gate. We want to attract visitors into Valletta. If our politicians really need a new home, I have just the spot for them. It’s called Filfla! We could reinstate the breeches buoy to take them there. For that, we could sell tickets.