DUBLIN — Irish voters thwarted Dublin’s best-known gangland boss from gaining a seat in parliament following a marathon election count full of shocks and twists.
Gerry “The Monk” Hutch had launched an out-of-the-blue campaign for a Dublin Central seat after flying in from Spain, where he awaits trial on money-laundering charges. Last year, Hutch was acquitted of murder in connection with a criminal underground feud that left 18 dead, including his own brother.
Few media analysts expected Hutch to make an impression in an already crowded Dublin Central field featuring two of Ireland’s biggest political names: Sinn Féin opposition leader Mary Lou McDonald and Paschal Donohoe, the Fine Gael government minister who leads the Eurogroup of countries that use the euro currency.
But Ireland’s unusually complex electoral system — which picks multiple lawmakers per constituency and lets voters rate all candidates in order of preference — opened the door to a potential Hutch breakthrough.
Over the course of Saturday night and Sunday morning, the nation watched the slowly unfolding results from the count center — many with horror and dread, others with anti-establishment glee — as Hutch secured fourth place in the initial round with a stunning 3,098 first-preference votes.
That put him in line to win the last of four seats up for grabs in Dublin Central. He was substantially ahead of several other favored candidates in a 13-strong field, including socialist firebrand Clare Daly, who was mounting a political comeback in Dublin after being narrowly turfed out of her European Parliament seat in June.
Ireland’s vote counts are designed to kill off the least popular candidates, one by one, round by round. Electors check each eliminated candidate’s ballots and “transfer” the next qualifying vote on each paper to another candidate still in the race.
For several rounds, that painstaking process brought further rewards for Hutch. His vote total climbed steadily, faster than those below him — fueling a growing sense of disbelief among the politically savvy crowd inside the Royal Dublin Society hall. The conference center sits in the heart of the capital’s wealthiest district, barely two miles from Hutch’s power base across the Liffey River on Dublin’s impoverished north side, where his criminal empire and ties to community boxing have built decades-deep bonds of loyalty.
When Sinn Féin’s McDonald became the first declared winner, her “surplus” votes were doled out to candidates below her — and the biggest number went to Hutch.
Then, when Daly — best known for her anti-NATO and anti-Israel views — was confirmed as a loser, her voters went more to Hutch than to his nearest challenger in fifth place, Marie Sherlock of the left-wing Labour Party.
On Sunday morning, Hutch seemed safely on track for that fourth and final seat, gaining more than 1,200 transfers from the main anti-immigrant candidate in the field, Malachy Steenson.
Sherlock had fallen more than 2,000 votes behind Hutch — a seemingly unclearable chasm in a contest that required only 6,551 votes to guarantee a win.
But just as Dublin media started to report that Hutch seemed certain to triumph, the tide turned.
Ireland’s proportional representation system, with its intensive counts and sudden shifts, demonstrated that just as it can give fringe politicians a shot at a win, it can snatch victory from a particularly polarizing candidate.
Voters for losing candidates from two government parties, the Greens and Fianna Fáil, were found to have overwhelmingly rejected Hutch in favor of Sherlock. That pulled her within 124 votes of Hutch with only the final 11th round to go.
It was left to Fine Gael’s Donohoe, the public expenditure minister and Eurogroup leader, to administer the coup de grâce.
The moment couldn’t have been more dramatic — but then Hutch, a man still considered under a death threat from a rival gang, arrived at the Royal Dublin Society hall to be surrounded by photographers.
It was his most public appearance in a bizarre campaign waged chiefly through blunt interviews and amateur videos on his TikTok account.
Pushing his way through the crazed media scrum, Hutch was asked if he’d consider a run to become Ireland’s president, the ceremonial head of state due for a 2025 election test. Hutch, 61, said he was too young but didn’t rule it out, quipping: “I’m running all my life. I love running.”
He received private news of his narrow loss — and then shook Sherlock’s hand, wishing her luck in tackling the chronic poverty in Dublin’s inner city.
He departed glum-faced, surrounded by security guards, minutes before the official final results were announced.
When the announcement came, Sherlock’s Labour Party activists and most of her political rivals present gave loud cheers of relief. A shaking Sherlock shed tears, too, as she embraced her parents, husband Ciarán and three children.
Donohoe’s transfers had sent 127 votes to Hutch, taking his total to 5,321 — and 1,032 to Sherlock, who scored 6,102 for the win.
Sherlock told Irish state broadcasters RTÉ she had been surprised that Hutch maintained his lead until the very end — but said it reflected working-class anger that the country’s unprecedented fiscal wealth wasn’t making their lives better.
“This country is awash with money and yet we have so many huge problems that remain unresolved,” she said.
Hutch’s vote total, as well as her own, she said, reflected the reality that people struggling with high costs and scarce housing “want change in how our country is run. They want a voice.”
