Hutch: 'If elected, I'll give my TD's salary to people in need'
Gerry ‘The Monk’ Hutch has pledged to donate his TD’s salary to people in need if he is elected to the Dáil later this month.
The 63-year-old, who was named in court as the head of the Hutch organised crime group, made the pre-election promise while canvassing in the north Dublin suburb of Glasnevin yesterday.
Dressed in a freshly pressed white shirt, light green bomber jacket, navy jeans and black hiking shoes, Mr Hutch told Extra.ie: ‘I’d be liable to do anything. I’d give me salary to the people rather than give it to the Government – the people who need it in the community.
Gerry Hutch, aspiring to the office of TD, out canvassing on Iona Road, north Dublin.
‘But it’s not about salaries. I’m not doing this for money, I’m doing it because the people asked me to do it.
‘They’re looking for change. They’re looking for school places for their kids. Kindergarten is expensive even with two folks working.’
The Independent Dublin Central candidate added: ‘I want these people who are in Government who made all these promises to do the change – that’s what I want them to do.’
TDs earn a salary of €118,284 and are also entitled to generous allowances to cover the costs of running a constituency office, mobile phones and travelling to and from Leinster House.
The Dublin Central and Galway West by-elections will be held on May 22 to fill the seats vacated by former finance minister Paschal Donohoe and the now-President, Catherine Connolly.
The looming election is Mr Hutch’s second attempt to take a Dáil seat.
He has been living in Lanzarote on and off since about 2015 and returned to Dublin two weeks ago to register as a candidate in the by-election.
Despite the feud between the Hutch family and the Kinahan crime gang, which claimed the lives of 18 people between 2015 and 2018, ‘The Monk’ has campaigned openly for the past week and does not appear concerned with threats to his security.
Mr Hutch is credited with masterminding the audacious IR£2.8million Brinks Allied robbery in the 1990s and is currently under investigation in Spain for suspected money laundering.
