According to the Irish Independent, the attack was prompted after the former Taoiseach was heard laughing about the “good old days” while in a bar in O’Connell Street last night.

Today’s Irish Independent reports that Ahern was attending a public service retirement party for a friend at the Sean O’Casey pub on O’Connell Street last night when he was hit by a crutch belonging to Ray Connolly, who had been having a quiet pint when Ahern and his colleagues entered the bar. Connolly told the Independent that he heard Ahern "laughing all night long" but became enraged when he heard Ahern say "That was in the good old days," before bursting into laughter again. Connolly, who was reportedly ‘very drunk’, approached Ahern and his colleagues and attempted to hit Ahern with his crutch but Ahern isn’t believed to have been injured with one witness saying that the crutch connected with the bar counter. Connolly was subsequently thrown out of the pub and although Ahern won’t be pressing charges, Connolly was arrested for a minor public order offence and taken to Store Street Garda station, where he was detained overnight. Commenting on why he was motivated to attack Ahern, Connolly told the Irish Independent: "He's put a lot of people in a terrible situation. "I've two kids – he's put €30,000 on their heads each," he added before saying that he was "bitterly disappointed" that the former Taoiseach had decided not to pursue any further action because he wanted his "day in court with Bertie". The incident is the latest in a number of confrontations Ahern has had with the general public, following his fairly dramatic fall from grace in recent years.