There’s a lot more guards around,’ whispered one of the count staff as she counted Gerard Hutch’s more than 3,000 first preference votes.
Her colleague replied with wide eyes and a knowing nod.
‘A lot more than usual,’ she agreed.
Last night the gangland figure known as ‘The Monk’ was in contention for the final seat in the Dublin Central constituency, with around nine per cent of the vote.
Uniformed gardaí and plain clothes detectives were out in force in Dublin’s RDS yesterday as the count got underway.
One retired garda looking on aghast from the sidelines told the Irish Mail on Sunday: ‘You do know he’ll be entitled to constitutional protection if elected, meaning he cannot be arrested going to or from the Dail?’
A source close to Hutch told the MoS that ‘parallels’ with US President-elect Donald Trump’ – ‘they are both villains’ – was the motivation behind his shock decision to run for the Dáil.
But they added that Hutch – ‘a community man’ – differs from the ‘individualist’ Trump.
The gangland figure believed by gardaí to be the leader of the Hutch organised crime group, was arrested and charged in Lanzarote by Spanish police investigating alleged organised crime activity just last month. He was released on €100,000 bail and a week later registered his candidacy, giving his profession as ‘consultant’.
As national and international media waited for Hutch’s arrival at the Dublin count centre yesterday, some reminisced about scenes in April 2023 when he emerged to a media scrum after he was found not guilty by the Special Criminal Court of the murder of David Byrne at Dublin’s Regency Hotel in 2016.
Despite being one of the most high-profile figures in Irish organised crime for decades, he has never been convicted of serious offences.
He did, however, pay more than IR£2m to the Criminal Assets Bureau, and his name is synonymous with one of the deadliest gangland feuds in Irish history.
Adding to the intrigue surrounding Hutch, a documentary team working with Oscar-nominated director Jim Sheridan hovered in the background yesterday to capture his potential arrival at the count centre.
‘This project could live or die with the result of the election,’ one of the film team said.
‘If elected, it will be of interest around the world. If not, we will move onto the next project.’
Speaking to the MoS, Sheridan – who made a controversial documentary about murder suspect Ian Bailey – insisted he isn’t a supporter of Hutch, but added cryptically: ‘Now I want him to win.’
Asked what he film is about, he replied: ‘I don’t know.
‘Conor Lenihan [Ex-Fianna Fáil Minister] asked if I could get an interview with The Monk because nobody could get it. I said, ‘I know him, I don’t know what he thinks of me.’
‘I rang him [Hutch] because I’d given him boxing equipment years ago, and he said ‘anything you want Jim’.
‘So I just followed him around. I knew him from Corinthians [boxing club] and from the inner city and from growing up, though he’s a few years younger than me.’
The filmmaker said ‘it’s crazy that he [Hutch] could get elected’, adding: ‘It’s going to cause a bit of a stir. I wanted to say that part of my whole thing is, I think the legal and the justice system is very bad, very poor in Ireland.
‘So I kind of understand where he’s coming from.’ He said the question of whether he endorsed The Monk ‘is an interesting one. Because to be fair I supposed I knew there’d be an element… but I don’t know whether I’d have any affect [on his campaign].’
Far right candidate Malachy Steenson was also hovering around the count centre yesterday seemingly trying to make sense of the voting pattern emerging.
Hutch’s vote was bizarrely transferring to and from the left (Sinn Féin) – and the right (Steenson).
Steenson admitted it was a ‘disappointing day’ for the nationalist movement. But The Monk’s success shows what ‘acres of media coverage can do for a celebrity candidate,’ he said bitterly.
He even went as far to suggest Hutch was ‘put into this race’ by the State to prevent his election.
Fellow right wing agitators were scattered around the RDS hall looking downtrodden while spouting abuse at Government parties and Sinn Féin as gardaí kept a close watch.
Hutch is running as an independent candidate and with four seats up for grabs, has some high-profile competition, including Fine Gael’s Paschal Donohoe and Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald who was elected on the third count last night.
The far-right mob jumped into action when Ms McDonald arrived at the count centre.
‘State of her, the ****,’ one shouted while others roared, ‘Muhammed McDonald’ and ‘Sharia Féin’.
Independent 4 Change candidate Clare Daly, who polled poorly in Dublin Central, arrived quietly and said the fact Gerry Hutch did well was an anti-establishment vote that could bring a needed focus on the area.
‘It’s incredibly interesting. It’s not a place I would have wanted to be obviously but I think we’ve seen the massive galvanising of that anti-establishment vote around the candidacy of Gerard Hutch,’ she said.
Asked about the effect that Gerry Hutch had on the ballot paper, fellow Dublin Central candidate Gary Gannon of the Social Democrats said it was something that ‘none of us expected’.
Paschal Donohoe and Mr Gannon look set to retain their seats with 17 per cent and 13 per cent respectively.
The battle for the fourth seat will likely be down to Hutch, Labour’s Marie Sherlock, who has seven per cent, and Fianna Fáil’s Mary Fitzpatrick, also on seven per cent.
With around six per cent of first preference votes, Neasa Hourigan is unlikely to hold her seat here.
The cross-party tally in Dublin Central have begun tallying the potential transfers from the candidates most likely to be eliminated first.
According to the tally people, if Ms Fitzpatrick is eliminated, about 10 per cent of her transfers will go to Ms Sherlock and if Ms Hourigan goes, 40 per centof her transfers will go Labour’s way.
But they say those gains will be wiped out by the fact that 50 per cent of Malachy Steenson’s transfers are going to Hutch. On that basis, they predict Mr Hutch is in strong contention to take the fourth seat.