Exclusive: Gerry Hutch sizing up run in by-election
Gangland criminal Gerard ‘the Monk’ Hutch is seeking to replace Paschal Donohoe in a Dublin Central by-election, Extra.ie can reveal.
Sources who spoke with the Monk yesterday told Extra he is ‘seriously considering’ running in the contest triggered by Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe’s shock resignation from politics to take up a €600,000 role with the World Bank.
As well as sparking a by-election, Mr Donohoe’s departure has led to a Cabinet reshuffle with Fine Gael leader Tánaiste Simon Harris becoming the new Minister for Finance, and Helen McEntee moving from Education to Foreign Affairs.
Super Junior Minister Hildegarde Naughton was promoted to a full Cabinet portfolio as Minister for Education.
Pic: Leah Farrell/RollingNews.ie
The battle for Mr Donohoe’s seat in Dublin Central has also begun with gangland figure Hutch understood to be considering another tilt at Dáil Éireann.
He got 3,098 first-preference votes in last year’s general election but was ultimately pipped at the post by Labour TD Marie Sherlock.
At the time, Ms Sherlock said that support for Hutch represented a ‘reflection of frustration’ in the north inner-city community.
The level of spoiled votes in last month’s Presidential election illustrated that there is still discontent among the electorate.
Gerry ‘The Monk’ Hutch. Pic: Brian Lawless/PA Wire
During the count last month, some ballot boxes from Dublin Central had more spoiled votes than votes for any of the three Áras candidates, with a total of 3,754 spoilt votes accounting for 15% of the total poll.
Hutch is currently being pursued by the Criminal Assets Bureau for almost €800,000 in unpaid tax according to a report in the Sunday Independent at the weekend.
In April 2023, he was found not guilty by the non-jury Special Criminal Court of the murder of David Byrne at the Regency Hotel, which was one of the early deadly attacks that escalated the Hutch-Kinahan gangland feud.
That feud claimed the lives of at least 18 people over several years in Dublin and overseas.
Mr Donohoe informed Fine Gael last week and Cabinet colleagues yesterday morning that he would be resigning to take up a role as managing director of the World Bank in Washington DC.
According to the bank’s annual report from 2025, Mr Donohoe’s predecessor received a total pay package of $700,000 (€604,000) including a base salary of $506,140.
In considering his replacement, sources in Fine Gael said that Mr Harris was ‘absolutely’ never going to put either ministers Peter Burke or Jennifer Carroll MacNeill into the Finance portfolio as it would elevate them to one of the most senior portfolios.
One Fine Gael government source said of Mr Harris’s decision to put himself in Finance: ‘He didn’t have many options.
‘He feels he can manage his time a bit more strategically than in Foreign Affairs. He will deliver two budgets and it will allow him to get around the country to rebuild the party.’
