LABOUR’S MARIE SHERLOCK has beaten Gerry Hutch to take the final seat in Dublin Central in one of the biggest nail-biters of this general election. 

The race between the two had come down to the wire: Hutch had been in fourth place in the four-seater constituency throughout the count. 

It was only in the final counts when Sherlock began to close the gap after gaining from the surplus of Gary Gannon of the Social Democrats and Fine Gael’s Paschal Donohoe, coupled with the distribution of the votes of Fianna Fáil’s Mary Fitzpatrick who was eliminated. 

Labour’s Marie Sherlock takes the final seat in Dublin Central after a tight contest with Gerry Hutch @thejournal_ie pic.twitter.com/4p6E5QbtdG

— Jane Matthews (@janeematthews) December 1, 2024

Going into the final count, Gerry Hutch was 24 votes ahead of Sherlock. 

She received 1,032 votes from the distribution of Paschal Donohoe’s surplus, while Hutch received just 127. 

Sherlock was deemed elected on the eleventh and final count with 6,102 votes, while Hutch finished on 5,321 votes. 

Hutch had entered the race at the last minute and his candidacy – and its coverage in the media – had been strongly criticised by Gannon, who also comes from the north inner city, where Hutch is originally from. 

A notorious gangland figure believed by gardaí to be the leader of the Hutch organised crime group, the 61-year-old known as ‘The Monk’  was arrested and charged in Lanzarote by Spanish police investigating alleged organised crime activity last month. 

He was subsequently released on €100,000 bail and registered his candidacy, giving his profession as “consultant”.

Sherlock, a Labour Party Senator, previously worked as an economist for trade union Siptu.