Updated at 6.15pm

Parliament was adjourned on Wednesday evening by Deputy Speaker Claudette Buttigieg to allow a discussion about allegations involving Labour Minister Chris Cardona.

Ms Buttigieg spent more than one and a half hours deliberating before accepting the call by Opposition leader Adrian Delia, who said that the allegations made in local and international media involved in the Daphne Project were of "urgent public importance" and were having a harmful effect on the country. 

Dr Delia made the request under Article 13 of parliament's standing orders, which allows for an adjournment of the House to discuss matters of "urgent public importance."

Times of Malta revealed on Tuesday that patrons of a bar in Siġġiewi have alleged that they saw Dr Cardona chatting to one of murder accused both before and after Ms Caruana Galizia's assassination.

The information was revealed as part of the Daphne Project, a collaboration between journalists from 18 news organisations, including the Times of Malta, into Ms Caruana Galizia's murder. 

Read: Chris Cardona's presence at bar ‘frequented by murder suspect’ flagged to magistrate

Acting Speaker Claudette Buttigieg said that she needed to know the exact working of the motion before she could take a decision on it. She suspended the hearing for a brief period at 4.50pm and accepted Dr Delia's request at 6.15pm.

Before Ms Buttigieg began her deliberations, deputy Prime Minister Chris Fearne had said that the government was in no way against proper discussion, but it said that there were very particular circumstances under which Article 13 would be invoked - and that there was not the urgency that Dr Delia was claiming.

However, Ms Buttigieg disagreed.

In a statement, the Nationalist Party said that the government was once again trying to avoid answering burning questions. "What is the government afraid of?" the PN asked.