Prime Minister Mia Mottley has acknowledged that the Ministry of the Environment was wrong to grant permission for the Suarez Brothers Circus to operate at the International Botanical Gardens, saying approval should not have been given without consultation with the Barbados Water Authority (BWA).

However, she defended the country’s regulatory system, saying the BWA’s subsequent intervention showed that the checks and balances designed to protect Barbados’ water supply worked.

“I am not going to fool you and tell you that the botanical garden was wrong when they gave permission, because they were wrong,” Mottley said during a site update at the Alleynedale Pumping Station on Tuesday.