Convicted criminal Gerry “The Monk” Hutch is one of seven candidates who have declared their intention to stand in the Dublin Central bye-election. Set for May 22nd, this election was called after the resignation of the former Minister for Finance, Paschal Donohoe, who has taken up a €600,000 a year job with the World Bank.
Mr. Hutch was a candidate for the four-seat constituency during the previous general election, coming fourth in first preference votes, but failed to receive enough transfers to be returned to the Dáil.
He began his campaign with a video posted to social media, encouraging people to register to vote. “The present government don’t want ye’ to register,” he declared, “they want to keep you ignorant”. This seems to indicate that the Dublin native intends to run a local, populist campaign, as he did in 2024.
Hutch is not the only populist criminal seeking to replace Mr Donohoe. Long-time conservative activist Malachy Steenson has announced that he is once again running for election. Steenson was convicted on three occasions of unlawful possession of a firearm, making a false statement to the Gardaí and vehicle theft. He was the Workers’ Party candidate for the constituency in 2009 and 2011, but was later expelled from the party due to his opposition to abortion. Steenson has gained prominence recently due to his focus on anti-immigrant activism. He received nearly five per cent of first preference votes last time, and it is expected that his transfers will strongly favour Hutch.
Daniel Ennis, the son of an alleged Hutch associate, has been nominated by the Social Democrats to contest the election. Ennis, a local councillor, has already taken to the campaign trail, distributing 23,000 leaflets already, according to RTÉ.
The other declared candidates include local Green Councillor Janet Horner, activist and sean-nós singer Eoghan Ó Ceannabháin, and Drumcondra native Ian Noel Smyth. Both Ó Ceannabhain and Smyth ran in the general election for People-Before-Profit and Aontú, respectively. Neither candidate earned a significant amount of votes.
Councillor Horner, who has been Chairperson of the Green Party since 2025, is a first-time general election candidate. Former TD Neasa Hourigan lost her seat in Dublin Central in 2024 as part of the collapse in support for the Greens that occurred nationally. Horner will be hoping that her party can bounce back from that defeat.
In a surprising move, the local branch of Sinn Féin selected failed general election candidate Councillor Janice Boylan to contest the constituency again. Heading into 2024, the party was riding high on Mary Lou McDonald’s thumping 36 per cent of first preference votes from the 2020 election, nearly enough to return two TDs. However, Boylan’s campaign was a humiliating failure, receiving less than four per cent of the vote and being eliminated on the second count. Mary Lou was elected in 2024 on the third count after receiving 19.5 per cent of the first preference vote. Despite this, local members chose to nominate her over Gillian Sherratt. Sherratt, a long-time party member, came to national prominence advocating for her son, Harvey Morrisson, who spent four years on a waiting list for lifesaving spinal surgery and died this July.
Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil are yet to announce their candidates, but they have indicated their intention to contest the bye-election. Rumours point to Ray McAdam, the current Lord Mayor of Dublin, as a potential Fine Gael nominee.
Dublin Central is the former constituency of Bertie Ahern of Fianna Fàil, but the party has failed to secure a TD since his resignation. Their 2024 candidate, Mary Fitzpatrick, polled a respectable seven per cent, but did not come close to achieving a seat.
Whichever candidate succeeds in this bye-election may find it difficult to maintain the seat in the general election in what has become one of the country’s most contested constituencies.
