Gerry ‘The Monk’ Hutch refused to answer questions about his Dáil run at the opening night of Rex Ryan’s play, despite pretending he was already elected on stage.
Mr Ryan took to the stage at The Ambassador Theatre for the first night of his one-man show The Monk, which is running for the rest of the week. It opened with the man himself sitting on a chair in the middle of the stage, doing a fictional interview after getting elected to the Dáil.
The crime figure, who narrowly missed out to Labour’s Marie Sherlock in the 2024 general election, recently confirmed that he will be running in Dublin Central’s upcoming by-election. Despite confidently telling hundreds of people that he will “go into the Dáil and speak to ministers” if elected, The Monk refused to answer questions about his political messages and policies.
He crumpled a can in the face of this reporter after being asked what his policies are in his hope to win a Dáil seat. The crime figure dodged several questions about the by-election, despite it being pointed out to him that he was happy to pretend he had already won in the play.
He happily posed for photos and shook hands with audience members, but remained tight-lipped when approached by two journalists. One audience member called this reporter a “dying wasp”- something that was referenced multiple times during the play, after The Monk infamously said this to RTÉ’s Paul Reynolds during the last general election.
Gerry (the Monk) Hutch and actor Rex Ryan at an exclusive behind the scenes tour of the Monk Set (Image: Sam Boal/Collins Photo)
In his fictional interview, Hutch said he didn’t run for the Dáil “for the wages” but “for the community, to wake up the place”. Asked on stage what can be expected from him as a TD and representative, he said: “I am going to be in the Dáil and speak to ministers and whoever else is there and I am going to be representing my community.
“I’ll be asking certain questions of certain ministers and if they tell me lies I’ll be going back straight to the people and saying ‘these people in here are telling me lies’. If they tell the truth I will tell the community the truth.
Rex Ryan who appears in his one man show about Gerry Hutch
“I think if I get into the Dáil the TDs will get to know me, they probably don’t know what to expect from me, but when they get to know me they will know they are dealing with a decent chap here and get to know me in and out of politics and they will make a good friend.”
The production, which is written, produced and performed by Mr Ryan, the son of the late RTE broadcaster Gerry Ryan, centres on Hutch’s trial before the Special Criminal Court. Hutch was previously acquitted of charges in relation to the Regency Hotel shooting that claimed the life of Kinahan cartel associate David Byrne.
The actor and writer previously told the Irish Mirror that the play doesn’t “glorify” The Monk. However, he claimed the play does “challenge” the veteran crime figure at several points and it’s not designed to promote him.
He said: “If people saw the play they’d say that it certainly isn’t a glorification. It’s very challenging to the man in many places.”
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