Veteran criminal figure Gerry Hutch will run in the Dáil byelection and use the long build-up to the poll to try to register hundreds, even thousands, of new voters in Dublin’s north inner city, gardaí believe.
Several senior officers said Hutch is highly motivated to secure a Dáil seat. They believe it is all but certain he will run in the Dublin Central byelection to replace former minister for finance Paschal Donohoe, who left politics last week for a position at the World Bank in Washington.
Gardaí and political sources added that the fact Hutch so narrowly missed out on winning a seat during last year’s general election, after securing 3,100 first-preference votes, meant he and his supporters now genuinely believed he could win.
“He’ll really fancy his chances, I wouldn’t underestimate him or the people around him,” said one Garda source. He added, as the byelection may not take place until next May, Hutch and his supporters now had months to register people who had never before voted.
RM Block
Several gardaí agreed with that outlook, noting the Dáil hopeful was a “popular”, “cult figure” in the north inner city. They also believed that if large numbers of unregistered voters could be mobilised, he could win.
The 62-year-old Dubliner teased another run for a Dáil seat by taking to social media after Mr Donohoe announced last week he was leaving politics. Hutch pledged to “update” his supporters soon and described himself as the People’s Choice.
“I’ve been spending a lot of time lately listening, learning and connecting with people across our community,” he said via social media accounts he used for last year’s election and has now reactivated. “I’m grateful for all the support and encouragement ... I appreciate everyone who’s been with me on the journey.”
Political sources said the large parties, especially Sinn Féin, could focus significant resources on securing the seat. And they believed fighting a byelection against big party resources would be much harder for Hutch, an Independent candidate, than last year’s general election, when resources were spread nationally.
The Standards in Public Office Act 2001 introduced a tax clearance requirement for all members of the Dáil. Hutch would not be eligible for the tax clearance certificate unless he settled a recent demand for almost €800,000 by Cab. It relates to alleged undeclared income between 2006 and 2010.
However, even though all members of the Oireachtas must be able to prove they are tax compliant, the Electoral Commission said in reply to queries: “There is no legislative bar to a person with an unpaid tax bill standing for election in Ireland.”
Though section 41 of the Electoral Act 1992 sets out a specific list of people disqualified from contesting an election, a prospective candidate’s status with Revenue is not mentioned.
Those disqualified from running include Garda or Defence Forces personnel, undischarged bankrupts, anyone serving a prison sentence of six months or more, anyone without Irish citizenship and anyone “of unsound mind”, among others.
Hutch was in 2023 acquitted by the Special Criminal Court of the murder of David Byrne (33), who was shot dead in the Kinahan-Hutch feud attack at the Regency Hotel, Dublin, in 2016. Hutch was last October arrested in Lanzarote, where he has mostly lived for many years, as part of a money-laundering investigation. He secured bail, enabling him to run in the general election last November, but remains under investigation, along with others, in Spain.
Cab, in evidence to the High Court, has previously described Hutch as the leader of “the Hutch organised crime group”. It also described him, in evidence during a case against Kinahan cartel associates, as the main figure, on the Hutch side, in the now dormant feud.
Hutch has also been linked to armed robberies in the 1980s and 1990s. He previously reached a settlement with Cab after a judgment of almost IR£2 million.
