Robinson was on ‘verge of breaking down'

Former president Mary Robinson has revealed she was on the verge of a breakdown when she took one of the top posts in the UN.

In a revealing and intimate interview on BBC Radio 4, Mrs Robinson also confessed her problems with the Catholic Church over its authoritarian stance on family planning.

Ms Robinson, who quit her presidency three months before the end of her term in 1997 to take up the job as UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, said she struggled with stress.