Ireland election: Alleged crime gang boss Gerard Hutch fails to win seat

Gerard Hutch, the alleged head of a major criminal gang in Dublin, has failed to win a seat in Ireland's general election.

Mr Hutch, known as The Monk, came fifth in the four-seat Dublin Central constituency, where Sinn Fein leader Mary Lou McDonald topped the poll.

Mr Hutch, 61, is on bail for an alleged money laundering charge in Lanzarote. Officials there did not immediately respond to Sky News' questions about the next stages in his case.

Mr Hutch's campaign also did not accept Sky News' request to interview him before the counting started.

There were scenes of pandemonium when he appeared at the Dublin count centre at the end of his unsuccessful bid to be elected to the Irish parliament.

It had been thought he wouldn't attend the count centre when it had become clear he had failed in his bid to be elected, but he arrived unexpectedly just after 3pm on Sunday.

A huge media scrum followed him around the centre, as security staff struggled to keep control.

Dozens of reporters, photographers and camera operators jostled to get close and shouted questions.

Mr Hutch, asked why he thought so many people had voted for him, replied: "Because they are looking for change and if I got elected I would give them the change that they want. I would do what they want."

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Asked if he would run again, he said: "I've been running all my life, I love running."

After an hour, the media followed him as he left the building, and he was repeatedly asked again if he would run.

He then started jogging through the car park, with journalists in pursuit.

An Irish criminal court judge described Mr Hutch as the patriarchal figurehead of the Hutch criminal organisation and said he had engaged in "serious criminal conduct".

However, Mr Hutch has denied the allegations against him and was found not guilty of the murder of David Byrne, who died after being shot six times at a crowded boxing weigh-in event at a Dublin hotel in 2016.

It was one of the first deadly attacks of the Hutch-Kinahan gangland feud in Ireland, in which Mr Hutch's brother and nephew were killed.

On polling day, some voters in his constituency refused to speak on camera to Sky News about Mr Hutch's candidacy.

Gary Gannon from the Social Democrats, who was the second TD (MP) elected in the constituency after Ms McDonald, said Mr Hutch's support was fuelled by "communities that feel really left behind by the normal parties of the state".

"When people are hurting and they don't see an outlet through traditional politics, they will vote even against their own interests.

"What we're seeing here in Dublin Central is similar to what you had seen in Brexit, where those who are most likely to be impacted by a particular choice chose it because asking them to stay within the mainstream has been punishing them in terms of poor housing, poor access to health care, that period of austerity that destroyed communities. This is just an offshoot of all of that," he said.

"It's a lesson for whoever is in the next government.

"They're the ones that have to pay attention because we're talking about one candidate today. At our next election, we'll be talking about more and more."

Overall, Fianna Fail and Fine Gael look set to continue their coalition despite a record low combined vote share. Sinn Fein's support has fallen significantly.

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