I heard the accent and stopped, pretending to examine a picture on the wall while I eavesdropped. Alone in a Budapest bar, the prospect of a chat with someone from home was welcome and I was all set to introduce myself. I soon changed my mind.
He was leaning against a pillar and bellowing into the ear of a silent Hungarian, who nodded politely every now and then.
"I was just saying," he roared, "that it's very hard to find an Irish person working behind a bar in Dublin. Because they're all foreigners!"
As he launched into a booming monologue on rising house prices, traffic jams and the other torments of prosperity, I realised that I was in the presence of the Ugly Irishman.
As the unfortunate Hungarian made his escape, I retreated into a corner and recalled the other grotesques from home I have met over the years. There was the young credit-card executive in Moscow who, flanked by a couple of mini-skirted prostitutes, declared loudly that, since the Russians had spent centuries in serfdom, they might as well spend the next century in the same condition.
"But there are great opportunities here to make money," he added with a wink.
There was the Irish businessman in Warsaw whose solution to Poland's farming crisis was to depopulate the countryside, driving everyone into the cities.
"Then they'd just have to sink or swim," he announced with a satisfied smirk.
And there were numerous visitors to Germany who could never resist what they thought were hilarious references to Hitler and the Third Reich.
Like the Ugly American and the Ugly German of old, the Ugly Irishman is, above all, a product of prosperity and he comes into his own when he visits poorer countries, especially in central and eastern Europe. But there is a fundamental difference between the Ugly Irishman and his counterparts elsewhere - he is convinced that everybody loves him.
Many Irish consultants and officials have provided valuable help to the candidate countries as they prepare to join the EU, and there is no doubt that Ireland is regarded as a model of success. But we can no longer depend on the universal affection of our neighbours and partners in Europe.
Until recently, Ireland's relative poverty and enthusiastic embrace of the European project ensured that we found a sympathetic ear in the international corridors of power. Irish officials earned a reputation for intelligence, professionalism and a gentle but effective negotiating style.
There is, however, nothing quaint or charming about new-found wealth. And some of our European partners have come to believe that the EU subsidies Ireland has received over the years are financing a low tax regime that represents unfair competition for the rest of the Continent.
One distinguished European commentator, reflecting on the high level of support for capital punishment and the isolationist instinct that drove many prosperous Irish people to say No to Nice, described today's Ireland as "a cross between Franco's Spain and Nero's Rome".
Although official EU reaction to last week's defeat of the Nice Treaty referendum has been muted, European newspapers have been less cautious in their response.
A number of German papers, for example, suggested that the EU would have to buy Ireland's approval of the treaty with the promise of extra Cohesion Funding after enlargement. Although the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Cowen, stressed yesterday that the referendum result was not a vote against enlargement, many citizens elsewhere in Europe have interpreted it as just that.
A Polish woman quoted in one newspaper summed up the feelings of many in the candidate countries with an angry explanation of last week's referendum result.
"It's because the Irish are self-centred. They've greedily accepted the financial blessings from the common purse. Now they're afraid they'll get less from Brussels if the poor relations from the east of the old continent are accepted into the EU and they are making difficulties," she said.
Mr Cowen will meet some of his counterparts from central and eastern Europe in Luxembourg today in an attempt to reassure them that Ireland remains supportive of their ambitions to join the EU. If the Government fails to get its message across, many of our friends in Europe will be tempted to conclude that the Ugly Irishman is not just a barroom loudmouth but represents the authentic voice of the people.
