\u201cI\u2019m no leader of any crime gang. I was never in a crime gang,\u201d he eventually said, when pressed.<\/p>\n
In a wide ranging and animated Q&A on Wednesday night, The Monk<\/a> denied a Judge\u2019s assertion that he was at one point in control of the weapons used in the Regency Hotel shooting, and finally confirmed he is going to run in the upcoming by-election in Dublin Central in May.<\/p>\n We asked Hutch, who is facing a Garda investigation over allegedly running a crime gang, about comments made by senior officers last week of the existence of the \u2018Hutch Organised Crime Group\u2019 – which is actively involved in the distribution of drugs in this country.<\/p>\n Amid repeated calls from organisers to stick to asking Hutch <\/a>about \u2018The Monk<\/a>\u2019 play, the frustrated crime figure told us:<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve no interest. I\u2019m not going to answer it. Don\u2019t as me about gardai. This is a play. I\u2019m not interested in gardai. If you ask me I\u2019m just going to shut up.\u201d<\/p>\n Gerry ‘The Monk’ Hutch answers questions asked by The Irish Mirror Crime Correspondent, Paul Healy. (Image: Sam Boal\/Collins)<\/p>\n Gerry ‘The Monk’ Hutch and actor Rex Ryan as they get an exclusive behind the scenes look at the Monk Set, ahead of the theatre production of The Monk. (Image: Sam Boal\/Collins )<\/p>\n Another person in the room then asked this paper to stick to asking questions about the play, in which Rex Ryan<\/a> is playing Hutch in a one man show. We stated that we were there to ask any questions we wanted, and that it was up to Hutch to answer how he wanted.<\/p>\n \u201cGo on ask me,\u201d Hutch then said. We then asked him about whether he knew of the existence of the Hutch OCG.<\/p>\n \u201cYou were at the trial Paul. You recorded. You got everything. You heard what the judge said.\u201d<\/p>\n As organisers tried to move questions back to the play, this reporter pointed out to Hutch <\/a>that he is a crime journalist, and he knew he was going to be asked these questions.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m not going into criminality Paul,\u201d he said, adding that if we did ask those questions we could expect to be rebutted.<\/p>\n \u201cYou don\u2019t want to be the second dying wasp, do you?\u201d he said.<\/p>\n We then pointed out to Hutch that Ms Justice Tara Burns, who ultimately acquitted him of the murder of Kinahan cartel<\/a> associate David Byrne, did assert in her summary that on the basis of the evidence, he was likely in control of the weapons used in the shooting – after it occurred.<\/p>\n \u201cWell the judge can say what she likes. You were there. You heard it all. You heard it in detail,\u201d Hutch responded to us.<\/p>\n He then repeated words issued by the Judge, stating that he stepped in after the Regency hit to try and make peace.<\/p>\n \u201cI got in as a member of the family to try nip it in the bud. As a member of the family. End of,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Hutch <\/a>was also asked about his running in the by-election, to which he confirmed for the first time that he was. He did not however elaborate on what any of his policies may be.<\/p>\n \u201cAh we have it covered yeah. It is what it is – win, lose or draw.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m standing for the people in the community and I don\u2019t count me birds until me eggs hatch. There\u2019s no sense in me telling everybody I\u2019m going to build Mount Everest, I\u2019m going to build Liberty Hall. I have to get there. I don\u2019t make promises I can\u2019t deliver on,\u201d he said, adding that he wasn\u2019t going to tell any reporter.<\/p>\n We later put it to Hutch that if he was running in an election, was it not fair to ask him whatever question we wanted. Having earlier told this reporter that he was going down the same route as RTE reporter Paul Reynolds, who he labelled a \u201cdying wasp,\u201d Hutch said:<\/p>\n \u201cWell you can ask any question you like but you can expect the Paul Reynolds answer. The State answer,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cCertain questions are asked of me like Paul Reynolds asked me on behalf of the State.<\/p>\n \u201cAs you know Paul gets paid by the State and they get three quarters of a billion off the government to protect the government. So if you ask me certain things. The government, it\u2019s not in my interest to let the government know my hand, my card.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd if you go on, I\u2019ll just call you a dying wasp like Paul.\u201d<\/p>\n Actor Rex Ryan and Gerry ‘The Monk’ Hutch. (Image: Sam Boal\/Collins)<\/p>\n Actor Rex Ryan and Gerry ‘The Monk’ Hutch pictured in the Ambassador Theatre, Dublin. (Image: Sam Boal\/Collins)<\/p>\n We asked Hutch <\/a>about the fact that gardai have sent a file to the Director of Public Prosecutions, recommending that he be charged with directing a criminal organisation.<\/p>\n \u201cAh there\u2019s files with the DPP the height of the f*cking Mount Everest. There has been a for years.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m no leader of any crime gang. I was never in a crime gang. The judge said I was the leader of a family and I think I\u2019ll leave it at that,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n He was also asked about failed State witness Jonathan Dowdall, whose evidence during the Special Criminal Court that The Monk confessed to the murder of David Byrne, was rejected by the judges. A<\/p>\n \u201cAh I\u2019ve nothing to say about Jonathan Dowdall. Nothing whatsoever,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n He was asked by another reporter if Dowdall , who is now in witness protection abroad, would ever be safe to return to Ireland.<\/p>\n \u201cYou\u2019d know. Is it safe? Are you going to do anything to him? Well I\u2019m certainly not. I think karma will do that itself,\u201d he responded.<\/p>\n The Irish Mirror’s Crime Writers Michael O’Toole and Paul Healy are writing a new weekly newsletter called Crime Ireland. Click here to sign up<\/a> and get it delivered to your inbox every week<\/p>\n He was later asked about the play, which he said he\u2019d attend on opening night next week.<\/p>\n \u201cI think it\u2019s going to bring people in from all walks of life and I think it\u2019s fabulous to do that. A lot of people from where I come from don\u2019t really go to the theatre and hopefully they will to see Rex,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Last week Garda Detective Chief Superintendent Seamus Boland revealed that the Hutch Organised Crime Group<\/a> is still actively involved in the distribution of drugs in this country to this day – and is a top target for the force.<\/p>\n He told the media ahead of the 10th anniversary of the Regency Hotel shooting, that the Hutch gang \u201cis heavily involved in drug trafficking and always was heavily involved in drug trafficking.<\/p>\n \u201cIn fact, that\u2019s why the feud, as we call it, initially took place \u2013 it was for supremacy in relation to areas of drug trafficking in this state,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n Want to see more of the stories you love from the Irish Mirror? Making us your preferred source on Google<\/a> means you\u2019ll get more of our exclusives, top stories and must-read content straight away. To add Irish Mirror as a preferred source, simply click here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In a wide ranging and animated Q&A on Wednesday night, The Monk denied a Judge\u2019s assertion that he…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":293430,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[31293,61,60,43],"class_list":["post-293429","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ireland","tag-gerry-the-monk-hutch","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/293429","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=293429"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/293429\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/293430"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=293429"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=293429"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=293429"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/0_JS396068953jp.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/0_JS396068960.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/0_JS396068986.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/0_JS396068911.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/0_OTOOLE-HEALY.jpg\")
Sign up to our new Crime Ireland newsletter and get exclusive content from Michael O’Toole and Paul Healy<\/p>\n