The former taoiseach Brian Cowen has insisted that alcohol never affected his job, but admits he ought to have cut back on socialising while in office because of his reputation as a drinker.
In an interview for a new book, Cowen agrees he should have decided to cut out social drinking, to “leave it so, leave it there for a while”, and insists he was capable of doing so. “I could do that. I’ve done that after Christmas this year, there is no problem.”
The former Fianna Fail leader was interviewed for Hell at the Gates: The Inside Story of Ireland’s Financial Downfall by John Lee and Daniel McConnell. In the book he speaks extensively for the first time about the widespread belief that he