‘It’s official, I’m running’ – Gerry ‘The Monk’ Hutch confirms registration as Election 2024 candidate

The 61-year old lodged his application for election candidacy at Dublin City Returning Office this afternoon, which was accepted. He submitted all the necessary paperwork and photos as part of his application.

This means that Hutch is now officially on the ballot paper as a candidate for Dublin Central, running as an Independent candidate.

Hutch is currently out on bail in Lanzarote, where he was recently arrested on suspicion of money laundering. He divides his time between Lanzorote, where he has a home, and Dublin.

Gerry ‘The Monk’ Hutch addresses Election 2024 bid at Dublin Airport

The veteran criminal, patriarch of the Hutch family from Dublin’s north inner city, has been signalling his intention to run in the upcoming general election in recent weeks.

He returned to Ireland on Monday, ahead of his Election 2024 bid.

The Dubliner had earlier told the Sunday Independent that he was to run in the general election in Dublin’s north inner city, declaring he would be “the people’s choice”.

Speaking to journalists in the Dublin Airport arrivals hall on Monday, Hutch repeated his intent to run and said he was hoping to officially declare himself as a candidate, saying: “without a doubt” and that he was “100pc” going for it.

When asked whose seat in the Dublin Central constituency did he believe to be most at risk, he replied; “I’ll take any seat.”

The Monk was acquitted last year of the gangland murder of Regency Hotel victim David Byrne. The Hutch gang have been involved in feud with the Kinahan cartel for a number of years, which has claimed 18 lives.

Hutch will be standing up against a number of high-profile sitting TDs, including Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald and Fine Gael’s Public Expenditure Minister Paschal Donohoe.

Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou ­McDonald said yesterday that she “absolutely condemns” Gerry Hutch running for a Dáil seat in Dublin Central.

Speaking at the party’s policy launch on immigration today, Ms McDonald said: “I absolutely condemn him, I am on record… as a matter of fact, there’s nobody more on record than I in ­condemning that. I represent the communities that suffer because of so-called gangland warfare.”

“I represent communities that have suffered the ravages of the heroin epidemic from the 1980s, and all of the chapters thereafter.

“I roundly condemn Gerry Hutch or anybody else who is involved in crime and in particular those who bring the misery and the heartache of drug addiction, drug enslavement, drug debt and all of the violence that stems from that.”

She said who runs for election is a “matter for electoral law” and said her fellow constituency candidates – such as TD Paschal Donohoe, who has been in Government – should have changed laws if they believed Hutch shouldn’t be allowed to run.

“If they were that worried about somebody like him stepping on to the pitch, well, then they should have changed the law to make it so that they couldn’t and they haven’t,” she said. “If he wants to run for election, that’s his business.”

The Monk is long suspected of having planned two of the biggest armed robberies in the history of the State.

Gardaí believe he has been involved in wholesale cannabis importation as part of the Hutch organised crime gang.

Hutch has denied membership of the Hutch organised crime gang, saying he is instead the “patriarch” of the Hutch family.

Meanwhile, Taoiseach Simon Harris has said Gerry Hutch should not be treated like a “minor celebrity”.

Simon Harris and candidates in the Dublin Central constituency, where the gangland figure has indicated he will run, have criticised his expected election bid.

Asked about Mr Hutch’s election bid while canvassing on Capel Street in the Dublin Central constituency, Fine Gael leader Mr Harris said: “I think it’s important that we don’t treat this individual like some sort of minor celebrity.

“This is the person who’s brought misery and criminality to this capital city. He’s not a celebrity, he’s a criminal.”

Tánaiste Michéal Martin said Gerry Hutch needs to be “fully transparent” on the allegations that have previously been made against him.

“I think he should be fully transparent with the electorate in relation to all of the allegations that have been made against him,” Mr Martin said while on a canvass in Offaly on Thursday.

“We read in newspapers a whole range of assertions in relation to his activities and so on and I think he should be fully transparent in relation to all of that,” the Tánaiste added.