GERRY ‘THE MONK’ Hutch has confirmed that he will be running in the upcoming Dublin Central by-election. 

After hinting at it for months, Hutch confirmed his intentions to run at a promotional event for an upcoming play written and performed by the actor Rex Ryan based on his life-story at the Ambassador Theatre last night. 

The well-known gangland figure only just missed out on the last seat in the constituency in the last General Election, when he was bested by the Labour Party’s Marie Sherlock. 

Reacting to the news, Lord Mayor of Dublin Ray McAdam, who is hoping to secure the Fine Gael nomination to stand in the by-election, said that Hutch is “entitled” to put himself forward. 

“That’s how democracy works, but I hope that the election campaign doesn’t descend into a contest of personalities. It should be about the issues and lived realities for people who make up the communities in this area: clean and safe streets and new housing. That’s what the election needs to be about,” he said. 

McAdam further said that he does enjoy going to the theatre, but that he won’t have time to see Ryan’s play as he’s “very busy at the moment”. 

Green Party candidate Janet Horner told The Journal that it’s not for her to question whether someone should run or not when they are legally entitled to, but that the issue with Hutch’s bid is “the way the media will focus on it”. 

“Media prefer to talk about the reputation of a semi-celebrity more than they do the real issues facing the communities we represent. There are candidates running who have a reputation of serving their local communities, and this is someone who has very little record of doing that,” she said.

Horner added that she noticed that when Sherlock beat Hutch the focus was on the losing candidate.

“They knew everything there was to know about Hutch, yet Marie was the one elected. When the media takes such a fascination with someone who enters the arena, it can be corrosive to democracy,” she said. 

Horner added she would be running on a platform of celebrating the strengths of the communities in Dublin Central as a “progressive”, “diverse” and “community-driven” place, while proposing solutions to challenges including housing and climate change. 

Organisers repeatedly asked press at the event last night to stick to questions about the play, as he was asked about the Special Criminal Court trial for the murder of David Byrne at the Regency Hotel. Hutch was found not guilty by the three-judge court in April 2023.

Hutch (62) is currently on bail in connection with an allegation of money laundering before a court in Lanzarote, but Spanish officials have said it won’t stop him standing for election in Ireland.

At one stage last night he told the Irish Mirror’s Paul Healy that he “was never in a crime gang”.

The contest will see someone claim the seat of the former minister for finance Paschal Donohoe, who exited politics last year to take up a job at the World Bank.