It has been confirmed that Gerry ‘The Monk’ Hutch will contest the General Election in Dublin Central – but who’s vote will he get?

Nicola Tallant told The Hard Shoulder she believed a lot of people will “look down their nose” at the idea of him running for election, but she posed that he could possibly get the “anti-establishment” vote.

Sunday World Investigations Editor and host of the Crime World Podcast, Ms Tallant said Mr Hutch claims he is “the people’s choice” on the ballot.

“He claims he has been asked to stand for election, as opposed to somebody who has put themselves forward, and we have yet to hear what his policies are,” she said.

“He does enjoy popularity within the North Inner City - he's an unusual character, really.

“When he was found not guilty last year in the Special Criminal Court for the Regency Hotel murder of David Byrne, he walked out to great fanfare on the streets.”

'Community ethos'

Ms Tallant said he seems to “believe himself” to be a “problem solver” and a “mediator” both in the “underworld circles” and in the “legitimate world”.

“He has certainly got some sort of a community ethos - there's no doubt about that,” she said.

“Before he suggested that he was going to stand for election, he would have pretty much funded the Corinthians boxing club there in the North Inner City.

“It burnt down, and he had a premises and leased it to them for 99 years, for €1 a year, just a nominal fee so they could keep going.

“He has been very vocally anti-drugs, although I think the second generation of the Hutch organised crime group proved that that certainly didn't go down the lines.

“They were prominent within the Kinahan cartel before it split and they went to war with them.”

Gerry The Monk Hutch being followed by the media and reporters after being freed following his court case at the Criminal Courts, 18-04-2023. Image: Lazarov/RollingNews

Ms Tallant explained the legal difficulty Mr Hutch is currently in – having recently returned from Lanzarote where he was granted bail.

“He's on bail at the moment from Spain, where he hasn't been charged with a criminal offense,” she said.

“In Spain they bring suspects before the courts, and they are investigating a money laundering business, and he has been in custody for some time, but was given bail, €100,000 bail, and one of the reasons he got the bail was because he wants to run for election here in this country.

“So he arrived in Dublin airport this morning on a flight from Lanzarote, and he confirmed in the flesh that he is indeed putting his hat in the ring.”

'An elder within the family'

According to Ms Tallant, Mr Hutch would claim that “members of his wider family might be involved in criminality”, but that he is “simply a sort of an elder within the family”.

“The gardaí did give some evidence during the Regency trial, where they stated that the Hutch grouping was an organised crime group, that it was familial, that it was fluid, and that it had a patriarchal structure, and also that it was involved in drug dealing, but there was no direct evidence given about Gerry Hutch’s involvement in it.

“We did hear during that trial that he had come to the table in order to try and broker a peace deal in the aftermath of the Regency Hotel.

“That's what the evidence suggested, certainly, that we heard he attempted to sort of salvage things that had gone pretty wrong.”

'Anti-establishment vote'

Ms Tallant said she doesn’t believe the Gardaí or the middle class in Ireland would like the idea of Mr Hutch being elected to the Dáil but that he certainly “has popularity” in the area.

“Is he going to get a bit of an anti-establishment vote? Is he going to pick up some of the Sinn Fein vote, Mary Lou's vote?” she asked.

“He certainly has popularity - there's no doubt about it.

“Within the North Inner City he has a wide and vast family and friends and community there.

“It remains to be seen - everyone's entitled to their to their vote.”

Meanwhile, Sinn Féin's Mary Lou McDonald has said she "isn't worried" about Mr Hutch running in the election.

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Main image: Split image: L, Irish ballot paper, R, Gerry 'The Monk' Hutch