GERRY ‘The Monk’ Hutch is officially running for election.
The notorious gangster showed no fear for his life as he stepped out to the Dublin City Sheriff’s office on Fitzwilliam Square this afternoon to register his candidacy in the upcoming general election.
Pictures showed The Monk rocking up to the office on a moped, wearing a hi-vis jacket and motorcycle helmet, as waiting photographers snapped his entrance.
Hutch buzzed the intercom and said he was there for an appointment at 4pm.
He entered the office and left five minutes later, having lodged his papers for candidacy in Dublin Central.
However, he made no statement to waiting members of the media.
The gangland boss’s declaration that he is planning to run in this constituency has dominated the headlines, with some furious at his bid for the Dail.
Hutch has set himself against the likes of Sinn Fein leader Mary Lou McDonald, Public Expenditure Minister and Fine Gael TD Paschal Donohoe, Neasa Hourigan of the Greens, Gary Gannon of the Soc Dems, Labour Senator Marie Sherlock, right wing candidate Malachy Steenson and ex-MEP Clare Daly in the hotly-contested constituency.
Earlier, Taoiseach Simon Harris blasted Hutch’s bid and declared: “He’s not a celebrity, he’s a criminal.”
Speaking outside the Boar’s Head pub during his election campaign, the Taoiseach said: “I think it’s important that we don’t treat this individual like some sort of minor celebrity.
“This is a person who has brought misery and criminality to this capital city. He’s not a celebrity, he’s a criminal.”
The Monk was arrested in recent weeks in Spain on money laundering charges but managed to pay €100,000 bail and was released from custody.
‘ANY SEAT WILL DO ME’
He confirmed his plan to try take a Dail seat in the election after landing at Dublin Airport this week, telling our reporter: “Any seat will do me!”
Constituency rival Paschal Donohoe today said he wants the constituency to “put the days of organised crime behind us” and is urging voters to remember the impact it has had on the area in recent years.
He said: “We want to send out a clear message regarding the impact of crime and organised crime and the harm that it does.
“I am making a very positive argument about how we can move forward and move forward to a future in which the awful, awful damage that drugs and organised crime has done to the people that I am lucky enough to represent so we can lessen that and put it behind us.
“Which is why this particular election in Dublin Central has added importance.”
Sinn Fein leader Mary Lou McDonald also hit out at the Monk at a press conference today when she was asked about her constituency rival.
She said: “I roundly condemn Gerry Hutch or anybody else who is involved in crime and in particular those that bring the misery and the heartache of drug addiction, drug enslavement, drug debt and all of the violence that stems from that.”
She added: “If he qualifies to run for election that is his business but crime and criminality and the feeling of not being safe in our city, low level anti-social behaviour is a reality right across this city.
‘DISGRACE’ IN INNER CITY
“And by the way those parties in government have not got to grips with it. It is a disgrace what’s going on in Dublin’s inner city and everybody who lives in the inner city knows that.”
Former Sinn Fein councillor Jonathan Dowdall turned State witness against The Monk in the trial of the Regency Hotel shooting of Kinahan Cartel mobster David Byrne.
The Monk was later acquitted of the murder and walked free from court.