Gerry Hutch should not be treated like a “minor celebrity”, the Taoiseach said after the 61-year-old confirmed his intention to contest the general election.
Simon Harris and candidates in the Dublin Central constituency, where the gangland figure has indicated he will run, have criticised his expected election bid.
The Dubliner arrived at the city’s airport on Monday after being arrested in Spain last month as part of an international investigation into money laundering. He has reportedly been released on bail of 100,000 euro.
Last spring, Mr Hutch was found not guilty by the non-jury Special Criminal Court of the murder of David Byrne, in one of the first deadly attacks of the Hutch-Kinahan gangland feud.
Mr Byrne, 33, died after being shot six times at a crowded boxing weigh-in event at the Regency Hotel in February 2016.
A Special Criminal Court judge described Mr Hutch as the patriarchal figurehead of the Hutch criminal organisation and said he had engaged in “serious criminal conduct”.
As Mr Hutch arrived at Dublin Airport, he was asked by reporters whether he intended to run as a general election candidate, to which he replied: “Hundred per cent.”
Taoiseach Simon Harris made his comments while canvassing in Capel Street, Dublin (Grainne Ni Aodha/PA)
Asked about Mr Hutch’s election bid while canvassing on Capel Street in the Dublin Central constituency, Fine Gael leader Mr Harris said: “I think it’s important that we don’t treat this individual like some sort of minor celebrity.
“This is the person who’s brought misery and criminality to this capital city. He’s not a celebrity, he’s a criminal.”
While Mr Hutch has said that “any seat will do”, there has been speculation that Mr Hutch’s appearance on a ballot paper in Dublin Central could draw votes from Sinn Fein leader Mary Lou McDonald.
Asked for her response to Mr Hutch’s bid for a position in the Dail, Ms McDonald told reporters on Monday that she would not comment on any other individual in Dublin Central – apart from her own running mate Janice Boylan.
Sinn Fein’s Mary Lou McDonald, centre, said she ‘absolutely condemned’ Gerry Hutch (Grainne Ni Aodha/PA)
Pressed on Thursday why she had not condemned Mr Hutch when Government politicians had done so, the Sinn Fein leader said: “Not alone will I condemn him, I absolutely condemn him.
“I am on record. As a matter of fact, there’s nobody more on record than I in condemning that.
“I represent the communities that suffer because of this so-called ‘gangland warfare’. I represent communities that have suffered the ravages of the heroin epidemic from the 1980s and all of the chapters thereafter.”
Ms McDonald said that if Government representatives were “that worried about someone like him stepping onto the pitch”, they should have changed electoral law to prohibit it.
“They haven’t and if he qualifies to run for election, that’s his business,” she said.
“But crime, criminality, a feeling of not being safe in our city, low-level anti-social behaviour is a reality right across this city, and those parties of Government have not got to grips with it.”
Fine Gael candidate in Dublin Central Paschal Donohoe said on Thursday that he was appealing to the people of Dublin Central to “put the days of organised crime behind us”.
“If I look at the communities of Dublin Central and all the work that they have done to look after each other, to support each other during, at times, very difficult days, if I look at the efforts that we have made from an investment point of view in Dublin Central and in particular in the northeast inner city, in our schools, in our community centres, in our teachers, in our young people, let’s build on that work,” he said.