Elaine Roe, 61, a cafe worker, has no doubt what is the most important issue in this week’s byelection for Dublin’s north inner city. “The government is wrecking our country, they’re bringing in rapists and murderers and kidnappers. It’s a shame. I might vote Hutch, he seems a normal person.’
That would be Gerry “the monk” Hutch, a prominent gangland figure who is running as an independent in an election that is far from normal. The 63-year-old – who was jailed for robbery convictions in his youth – is a celebrity candidate in a contest for a parliamentary seat that has been dominated by xenophobia and immigration.
Voters in the Dublin Central constituency will cast ballots on Friday, with results on Saturday, but one outcome is already clear: hostility to newcomers, especially Black immigrants and Muslims, has entered Ireland’s political mainstream.
Gerry Hutch, right, with a supporter, during a canvas in the Dublin Central byelection. Photograph: Rory Carroll/The GuardianHutch has called for “illegal immigrants” to be detained in camps. “They should be all interned,” he said, and singled out east Africans. “The ones that are Somalians and them type of people, no way. Interned.”
When the Guardian accompanied Hutch on a recent canvas, soundtracked by a flatbed truck blasting pop songs, he said 99% of Irish people wanted stronger rules on immigration. “But you’re not allowed to say that. Even when people have nowhere to live, because of the housing disaster, you can’t say that,” he said.
In fact, what was once a fringe view – that immigrants are to blame for crime and a housing shortage – has in some areas become a refrain. Residents in Dublin Central, which spans working-class neighbourhoods, hostels, asylum shelters and wealthy districts, had urged him to run, Hutch said. “I’m gonna use the platform to help the people who voted me in and they’ll tell me what to do.”
People in the street and on doorsteps requested selfies with Hutch. “You’re my number one, pal. I love everything you’ve done,” said one man. Hutch handed him a flyer that promised “leadership” and “honesty” to shake up the status quo. “We need change and I’m your man,” it said.
Hutch has been a notorious figure for decades. A court named him as the leader of an organised crime group and he has admitted to committing crimes. “Some of them I got away with,” he told RTÉ in 2008.
Gerry ‘the monk’ Hutch outside a Dublin court in April 2023. Photograph: Sam Boal/PAHe shocked the political establishment by almost winning a seat in the 2024 general election and is now running to fill the vacancy left by Paschal Donohoe, a finance minister with the ruling Fine Gael party, who quit the Dáil for a World Bank job.
An opinion poll ranked Hutch third, with 14% of first preference votes, which gives him a slender chance of prevailing against 13 other candidates in an election that will be decided on transfers from eliminated candidates.
Opinion polls also say the most important issue for voters is the cost of living (33%), followed by house prices (24%) and immigration (12%). Yet for many voters the issues are linked.
John Clarke, a butcher in north Dublin, favours stricter immigration controls. Photograph: Rory Carroll/The Guardian“I’m not racist but we should be looking after our own instead of bringing people in,” said John Clarke, 45, a butcher. “I have two kids – both had to go to Sydney because they couldn’t afford to buy homes here. I’m especially against Muslims coming in, they want to take over.”
Mainstream parties all disavow racism but have toughened rhetoric on immigration and asylum.
Mary Lou McDonald, the leader of Sinn Féin, a progressive opposition party, sidestepped responding to Hutch’s call for internment. “We can’t comment on other people’s comments,” she said. Sinn Féin’s candidate, Janice Boylan, leads the field but analysts say she will need transfers, including from Hutch voters, to fend off Daniel Ennis of the Social Democrats.
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