Pint of order! - Last call for Dáil bars?

CORK’S independent TD Michael Collins has responded, perhaps mischievously we suspect, to the proposed imposition of tougher drink-drive limits and penalties with a suggestion that will get nowhere exceedingly slowly.

Understandably concerned that a crackdown on drink driving will call time on rural pubs, thus putting a dampener on social and community life in country areas, he thinks that if legislators want to set a good example they should first close the Dáil’s two bars.

Rationally, he makes a strong point. A parliament building is a place of work, and most places of work do not have bars within their walls. But since when have politics and alcohol been subject to rational study?