Posted by Gangland figure Gerry ‘The Monk’ Hutch last night declared that he will run in the upcoming Dublin Central by-election.
At a chaotic press event to promote an upcoming play by Rex Ryan based on The Monk’s life, Hutch, 62, stated that he was ‘never in a crime gang’ and repeatedly refused to answer questions relating to alleged criminality.
Hutch narrowly missed out on getting a Dáil seat in the general election in November 2024 – but when asked by Extra.ie last night how he planned to secure more transfers in the by-election, he said: ‘We have it covered.’
He added that his campaign will be ‘same as the last time but there’ll be a few extra bits’.
However, security figures were critical of Hutch’s appearance last night and described it as a ‘foolish’ attempt to rebrand his reputation, adding: ‘Walking a red carpet is frankly a slap in the face to every law-abiding Irish citizen.’
Hutch, who the Special Criminal Court previously recognised as the head of the Hutch Organised Crime Group, appeared last night alongside actor Ryan, who plays The Monk in the ‘fictional’ oneman stage show.
At the press event to promote the play in the Ambassador Theatre, Hutch refused to answer repeated questions about his alleged involvement in criminality.
‘Forget about [questions from] gardaí. I’m not interested in gardaí, I’m not going to answer you. Don’t ask me about gardaí, this is a play. If you ask me I’m just going to shut up,’ he remarked.
Hutch also referred to the chaotic scenes at the count centre for the last general election which saw him refusing to answer questions from RTÉ crime correspondent Paul Reynolds, who he branded at the time ‘a dying wasp’.
He told one reporter asking him about his criminal involvement last night: ‘You see what Paul Reynolds did over at the count, what did he do? He f***ed it up for everybody.
‘You don’t want to be the second dying wasp do ya?’
Despite receiving almost a tenth of the votes on the first count in the poll in November 2024, Hutch was ultimately pipped at the post by Labour TD Marie Sherlock, who leapfrogged him on transfers to claim the final seat.
In the aftermath, Ms Sherlock said that the level of support for Hutch represented a ‘reflection of frustration’ in the north inner-city community in Dublin.
During the count in last October’s Presidential election, some ballot boxes from Hutch’s Dublin Central constituency had more spoiled votes than votes for any of the three candidates on the ballot paper, with a total of 3,754 spoilt votes – accounting for 15% of the total poll.
The by-election to fill the seat voided by former minister for finance Paschal Donohoe, who quit to take up a role as managing director at the World Bank, will take place on either May 15 or 22.
The constituency is home to Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald. In an interview with Extra in December, Ms McDonald said she wasn’t concerned about the prospect of Mr Hutch being in the race.
‘No, I’m not worried at all whether he runs or not will be a matter for himself,’ she said. ‘We [Sinn Féin] will be running, and we’ll be in it to win it… I’m looking forward to it, and anyone’s entitled to run. I’m a democrat. Bring it on.’
A by-election will be held in Galway West on the same day to fill the seat vacated by Catherine Connolly following her election as President. In April 2023, the Special Criminal Court found Hutch was not guilty of murdering David Byrne, a key member of the Kinahan crime gang, at the Regency Hotel in Dublin in February 2016.
The State’s main witness in the case was former Sinn Féin councillor Jonathan Dowdall, who testified that he handed Hutch the keycard to a room at a hotel used by one of the gunmen the night before the murder.
Asked by Extra last night if he hoped some of Dowdall’s former political supporters would vote for him, Hutch said: ‘I’ve nothing to say about Jonathan Dowdall. Nothing whatsoever.’
Dowdall entered the witness programme and assumed a false identity abroad following the trial due to the perceived threat to his life.
Hutch told Extra.ie that he believed it was safe for Dowdall to return to Ireland. He said that he had no intention of harming him but added that ‘karma’ might.
‘Is it safe? Are you going to do anything to him because I’m certainly not. I think karma will do that itself,’ he said.
At the press event to promote the play in the Ambassador Theatre, actor Ryan, who plays The Monk in the ‘fictional’ oneman stage show, said that he did not believe that he was glorifying Hutch with his production.
He remarked: ‘I don’t think it’s a glorification I think it’s an honest representation of a person and their life’.
Ryan, son of former RTÉ broadcaster Gerry Ryan, declined to say whether he would vote for Hutch, stating: ‘I can’t comment on my voting sensibilities, it’s nothing to do with the play.’
He insisted that the production is ‘a challenging play’ that shows ‘the light and the dark’, adding: ‘That’s what a dramatist is supposed to do, we all have light and dark in us. This is the stuff of imagination and fiction, yes, but you have to tackle challenging times in a person’s life.
‘And whatever about former accusations and things like that, I’m talking about family problems and all that. Issues of childhood, all of these things.’
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