{"id":294131,"date":"2026-02-12T11:54:07","date_gmt":"2026-02-12T11:54:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/294131\/"},"modified":"2026-02-12T11:54:07","modified_gmt":"2026-02-12T11:54:07","slug":"gerry-the-monk-hutch-says-he-plans-to-contest-dublin-byelection-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/294131\/","title":{"rendered":"Gerry \u2018The Monk\u2019 Hutch says he plans to contest Dublin byelection \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Gerry \u201cThe Monk\u201d Hutch<\/a> has confirmed he will stand in the forthcoming Dublin<\/a> byelection and take his seat in the D\u00e1il<\/a> if elected.<\/p>\n

The veteran criminal told reporters he will put his name forward in the Dublin Central constituency for the seat vacated by former minister for finance Paschal Donohoe<\/a>, who has joined the World Bank. <\/p>\n

The byelection is due to be held on May 22nd. <\/p>\n

In the 2024 general election, Hutch (62) finished fifth in the four-seat constituency, losing out to Labour\u2019s Marie Sherlock on the last count. <\/p>\n

Hutch confirmed he will stand during a press call to promote The Monk, a one-man play about his life written and performed by Rex Ryan<\/a>, which begins at the Ambassador Theatre next week. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt will be similar to the last time, but there will be a few extra things,\u201d Hutch said of his election run. He claimed that this time around he will have the issue of vote transfers, which led him to lose out in 2024, \u201ccovered\u201d. <\/p>\n

Others who have already declared they will stand in the byelection include Dublin city councillors Daniel Ennis of the Social Democrats, the Green Party\u2019s Janet Horner, Independent Malachy Steenson, Eoghan \u00d3 Ceannabh\u00e1in of People Before Profit and Aont\u00fa\u2019s Ian Noel Smyth. <\/p>\n

Hutch is currently being pursued for almost \u20ac800,000<\/a> by the Criminal Assets Bureau<\/a> (Cab) and Revenue<\/a>. That demand was served on him recently after a Cab-led inquiry determined he owed the money arising from allegedly undeclared income between 2006 and 2010.<\/p>\n

He will be able to run and also take a seat in the D\u00e1il<\/a>, if he wins, due to a gap in the law obliging newly elected TDs to have their tax affairs in order before taking their seats.<\/p>\n

The Standards in Public Office Act 2001 introduced a tax clearance requirement for members of the D\u00e1il. <\/p>\n

\"GerryGerry ‘The Monk’ Hutch and actor Rex Ryan ahead of the theatre production of \u2018The Monk\u2019 in the Ambassador Theatre, Dublin. Photograph: Sam Boal\/Collins Photo Agency <\/p>\n

Due to the tax demand, Hutch would not be in a position to secure a tax clearance certificate from the Revenue Commissioners.<\/p>\n

However, the Standards in Public Office Commission (Sipo) has confirmed to The Irish Times that, despite the legislation, a newly elected TD\u2019s inability to produce a tax clearance would not block them taking their seat. If they could not produce the certificate in time, they would not be unseated.<\/p>\n

Should he win the Dublin Central byelection, Hutch would need to make a declaration within one month of the election that he is tax compliant. Within a maximum of nine months, like all newly elected TDs, he would need to produce a tax clearance certificate.<\/p>\n

In reply to queries, Sipo said it could place such a TD under investigation for their non-tax compliance. A report arising from such an investigation would be compiled and given to the Committee on Members\u2019 Interests of D\u00e1il \u00c9ireann. The report would also be laid before the D\u00e1il.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0How Gerard \u2018the Monk\u2019 Hutch got his nickname and its connection to The Irish TimesOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

Hutch was arrested in Lanzarote in October 2024 as part of a money laundering inquiry. He was released on bail of \u20ac100,000 the following month. Though he remains under investigation there, that does not block him from running in the byelection.<\/p>\n

In 2023, Hutch was acquitted<\/a> by the Special Criminal Court of the murder of David Byrne (33), who was shot dead at the Regency Hotel, Dublin, in 2016.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Gerry \u201cThe Monk\u201d Hutch has confirmed he will stand in the forthcoming Dublin byelection and take his seat…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":294132,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[15049,615,70422,61,60,43,774,140302],"class_list":{"0":"post-294131","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ireland","8":"tag-dail-eireann","9":"tag-dublin","10":"tag-gerry-hutch","11":"tag-ie","12":"tag-ireland","13":"tag-news","14":"tag-paschal-donohoe","15":"tag-rex-ryan"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/294131","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=294131"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/294131\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/294132"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=294131"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=294131"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=294131"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}