Alcohol the 'oil of government' for many through the ages

In common with many areas of public life, heavy drinking was then a real time hazard in the Leinster House bubble.

It wasn't just here in Ireland that this was the case, either. Over-indulgence has long been a hazard for British politicians of varying hue.

A visit to Winston Churchill's underground bunker in the shadow of the Westminster parliament shows a replica of his living quarters during World War II. Pride of place beside his bed is a bottle of Pol Roger Champagne.

He described this particular tipple as "the oil of government".

Churchill, who was known to sometimes start his day with a stiff whiskey, could put away prodigious amounts of rum and brandy.

In contrast, his arch-nemesis, Adolf Hitler, despite having an alleged dependence on prescription drugs, avoided all alcohol.

Other British prime ministers have had their own relationship with the bottle. Lloyd George, while partaking in a string of extra-marital liaisons and maintaining a permanent mistress, disapproved of heavy drinking.

Harold Wilson in public was a pipe-smoking man of the people sipping the odd pint of beer. In private, he favoured cigars, and according to his biographers he could knock back generous amounts of brandy.

Margaret Thatcher embraced an unrelenting work ethic, but regularly enjoyed a few whiskeys at the end of a long day.

Alcohol was not a problem for her but in her lonely, searingly unhappy retirement years she sought too much solace in the bottle before dementia finally took over her life.

David Cameron sometimes risked his clean-cut image because of a love for "chillaxing".

In the United States, George Bush junior - on the lash for years - gave up alcohol completely on his 40th birthday. It was after another "wild drunken weekend" that he finally saw the light and said enough was enough.

Donald Trump, whose brother Fred died of alcoholism at the age of 43, has famously never touched a drop.

Old Joe Kennedy, the patriarch of America's most famous political clan, reportedly made some of his fortune by illegally importing scotch and gin during prohibition.

Yet he had an abstemious approach in his personal life.

However, heavy drinking blighted the life of his son, Ted. Younger members of the Kennedy clan have endured well-publicised battles with addiction.

In Russia and the former Communist-controlled countries of Eastern Europe, knocking back vast amounts of vodka was often seen as a perk of the job for those near the pinnacle of power.

When Vladimir Putin came to power he was determined to clean up the Soviet image on this front. He is rarely if ever seen with a drink, preferring to present himself as super fit, with a love for judo and horse riding.

This is in marked contrast to when Boris Yeltsin held the Russian presidency. He was regularly seen in public obviously under the weather.

In 1994, when his official plane had a stop-over in Shannon, he was "too tired" to leave his seat for a scheduled meeting with the then-Taoiseach Albert Reynolds and some of his ministers.

Amid much diplomatic confusion, they were left waiting on the tarmac. A certain kind of "tiredness" meant they never did get the opportunity to exchange pleasantries with Mr Yeltsin.