{"id":459893,"date":"2026-05-21T10:21:08","date_gmt":"2026-05-21T10:21:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/459893\/"},"modified":"2026-05-21T10:21:08","modified_gmt":"2026-05-21T10:21:08","slug":"dublin-gangland-figure-brings-extremist-views-to-irish-mainstream-on-campaign-trail-ireland","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/459893\/","title":{"rendered":"Dublin gangland figure brings extremist views to Irish mainstream on campaign trail | Ireland"},"content":{"rendered":"

Elaine Roe, 61, a cafe worker, has no doubt what is the most important issue in this week\u2019s byelection for Dublin<\/a>\u2019s north inner city. \u201cThe government is wrecking our country, they\u2019re bringing in rapists and murderers and kidnappers. It\u2019s a shame. I might vote Hutch, he seems a normal person.\u201d<\/p>\n

That would be Gerry \u201cthe monk\u201d Hutch, a prominent gangland figure who is running as an independent in an election that is far from normal. The 63-year-old \u2013 who was jailed for robbery convictions in his youth \u2013 is a celebrity candidate in a contest for a parliamentary seat that has been dominated by xenophobia and immigration.<\/p>\n

Voters in the Dublin Central constituency will cast ballots on Friday, with results on Saturday, but one outcome is already clear: hostility to newcomers, especially Black immigrants and Muslims, has entered Ireland<\/a>\u2019s political mainstream.<\/p>\n

Gerry Hutch, right, with a supporter, during a canvas in the Dublin Central byelection. Photograph: Rory Carroll\/The Guardian<\/p>\n

Hutch has called for \u201cillegal immigrants\u201d to be detained in camps. \u201cThey should be all interned,\u201d he said, and singled out east Africans. \u201cThe ones that are Somalians and them type of people, no way. Interned.\u201d<\/p>\n

When the Guardian accompanied Hutch on a recent canvas, soundtracked by a flatbed truck blasting pop songs, he said 99% of Irish people wanted stronger rules on immigration. \u201cBut you\u2019re not allowed to say that. Even when people have nowhere to live, because of the housing disaster, you can\u2019t say that,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

In fact, what was once a fringe view \u2013 that immigrants are to blame for crime and a housing shortage \u2013 has in some areas become a refrain. Residents in Dublin Central, which spans working-class neighbourhoods, hostels, asylum shelters and wealthy districts, had urged him to run, Hutch said. \u201cI\u2019m gonna use the platform to help the people who voted me in and they\u2019ll tell me what to do.\u201d<\/p>\n

People in the street and on doorsteps requested selfies with Hutch. \u201cYou\u2019re my number one, pal. I love everything you\u2019ve done,\u201d said one man. Hutch handed him a flyer that promised \u201cleadership\u201d and \u201chonesty\u201d to shake up the status quo. \u201cWe need change and I\u2019m your man,\u201d it said.<\/p>\n

Hutch has been a notorious figure <\/a>for decades. A court named him as the leader of an organised crime group and he has admitted to committing crimes. \u201cSome of them I got away with,\u201d he told RT\u00c9 in 2008.<\/p>\n

Gerry \u2018the monk\u2019 Hutch outside a Dublin court in April 2023. Photograph: Sam Boal\/PA<\/p>\n

He shocked the political establishment by almost winning a seat in the 2024 general election and is now running to fill the vacancy left by Paschal Donohoe, a finance minister with the ruling Fine Gael party<\/a>, who quit the D\u00e1il for a World Bank job.<\/p>\n

An opinion poll ranked Hutch third, with 14% of first preference votes, which gives him a slender chance of prevailing against 13 other candidates in an election that will be decided on transfers from eliminated candidates.<\/p>\n

Opinion polls also say the most important issue for voters is the cost of living (33%), followed by house prices (24%) and immigration (12%). Yet for many voters the issues are linked.<\/p>\n

John Clarke, a butcher in north Dublin, favours stricter immigration controls. Photograph: Rory Carroll\/The Guardian<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not racist but we should be looking after our own instead of bringing people in,\u201d said John Clarke, 45, a butcher. \u201cI have two kids \u2013 both had to go to Sydney because they couldn\u2019t afford to buy homes here. I\u2019m especially against Muslims coming in, they want to take over.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mainstream parties all disavow racism but have toughened rhetoric on immigration and asylum.<\/p>\n

Mary Lou McDonald<\/a>, the leader of Sinn F\u00e9in<\/a>, a progressive opposition party, sidestepped responding to Hutch\u2019s call for internment. \u201cWe can\u2019t comment on other people\u2019s comments,\u201d she said. Sinn F\u00e9in\u2019s candidate, Janice Boylan, leads the field but analysts say she will need transfers, including from Hutch voters, to fend off Daniel Ennis of the Social Democrats.<\/p>\n

Bertie Ahern<\/a>, a former taoiseach and leader of the ruling Fianna F\u00e1il<\/a> party, was secretly recorded telling a voter: \u201cThe ones I worry about are the Africans. We can\u2019t be taking in people from the Congo and all these places.\u201d He also expressed concern about the next generation of Muslims.<\/p>\n

The current taoiseach, Miche\u00e1l Martin<\/a>, said the comments were \u201cnot appropriate\u201d and did not reflect the views of Fianna F\u00e1il. Ahern later said he had no problem with people entering through visa and asylum systems.<\/p>\n

The death of a Congolese man in the city centre on 15 May has put added scrutiny on race relations. Yves Sakila, 35, died<\/a> after being restrained by security guards who suspected him of shoplifting. Police are investigating.<\/p>\n

Tributes were left in Dublin city centre after Yves Sakila, a Congolese man, died after being restrained by security guards. Photograph: Conor Humphries\/Reuters<\/p>\n

With coffers swelled by corporate tax revenues, the centrist Fianna F\u00e1il and Fine Gael<\/a> coalition has ramped up public spending, but rising prices and a housing shortage have created a sour mood.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe country is falling to bits. There\u2019s no jobs, no housing. If you do have a job the wages are crap. My son is 36 and still living at home,\u201d said a charity shop worker, who withheld her name.<\/p>\n

Jimmy McDaid, 77, said he would vote for Hutch to clean up drug dealing. Asked about Hutch\u2019s criminal record, McDaid said that was in the past. \u201cEveryone is entitled to a second chance. Look at the government \u2013 they\u2019re the gangsters, saying one thing and doing another.\u201d<\/p>\n

A Sinn F\u00e9in poster in the Dublin Central byelection. Photograph: Rory Carroll\/The Guardian<\/p>\n

However, in a byelection in Galway \u2013 to fill a D\u00e1il seat vacated by the president, Catherine Connolly<\/a> \u2013 the Fine Gael candidate, Se\u00e1n Kyne, narrowly leads opinion polls. His main rivals are Noel Thomas, an independent who has condemned Ireland\u2019s \u201creckless open border policies\u201d, and Labour\u2019s Helen Ogbu, who was born in Nigeria and in 2024 became the first person of colour to be elected to Galway city council.<\/p>\n

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