{"id":18706,"date":"2026-04-10T14:50:18","date_gmt":"2026-04-10T13:50:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cassandravoices.com\/?p=18706"},"modified":"2026-04-10T14:50:18","modified_gmt":"2026-04-10T13:50:18","slug":"gerry-the-monk-hutch-challenges-gangsters-inc","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/casswp.eutonom.eu\/index.php\/2026\/04\/10\/gerry-the-monk-hutch-challenges-gangsters-inc\/","title":{"rendered":"Gerry \u2018the Monk\u2019 Hutch Challenges Gangsters Inc."},"content":{"rendered":"

At their inauguration, public leaders
\nmust swear to uphold unwritten law and weep
\nto atone for their presumption to hold office \u2013
\n<\/em>Seamus Heaney, \u2018From the Republic of Conscience\u2019<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

With a Dublin Central by-election<\/a><\/span> on the horizon, Irish politics appears to be descending into GUBU. The \u2018grotesque, unbelievable, bizarre and unprecedented\u2019 prospect of alleged crime boss Gerry \u2018the Monk\u2019 Hutch taking a seat in D\u00e1il \u00c9ireann looms large in a May by-election triggered by the resignation of former Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe.<\/p>\n

Supreme Court Justice Peter Charleton once inquired as to why I pleaded for John Gilligan not as a gentleman, but as a self-employed businessman. Gilligan\u2019s singular presence and the shadow over the murder of Veronica Guerin engendered the Criminal Assets Bureau and The Proceeds of Crime Act 1996. This was the beginning of the end for Due Process in Ireland. In the interim, one form of organised crime mutated into another via NAMA and offshore accounts. Thus, Ireland\u2019s Gangster Inc. of Cuckoo<\/span> <\/a>and Vulture Funds was born.<\/p>\n

Of course, Gilligan never held political office, but Hutch\u2019s candidacy and near election to the D\u00e1il in 2023 begs the question as to whether an alleged crime boss ought to be barred from holding political office. Any such prohibition would raise questions of definition, and indeed whether the activities of present or former office holders, including at least one former Minister for Justice I can think of, might fit that description.<\/p>\n

There are obvious examples of corrupt politicians such as former Fianna F\u00e1il T.D. Liam Lawlor, paid a small fortune<\/a><\/span> by Beef Baron Larry Goodman, who remains one of the state\u2019s richest citizens. During the 1980s a rogue\u2019s gallery of grafters made their home in Leinster House. Today\u2019s white collar criminals keep their finger nails clean, if not their toe nails, which remain firmly embedded in the dirt.<\/p>\n

\"\"
A drawing of Ned Kelly on a wall in Melbourne.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Art Imitating Life?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

A hagiographic play recently staged in Dublin\u2019s Ambassador Theatre offered an alternative take on the staid format of the party-political broadcast. Remarkably, the eponymous hero of \u2018The Monk\u2019<\/a><\/span> made a surprise appearance on stage<\/span><\/a> on the opening night, taking part in a fictional live question-and-answer session with playwright and performer Rex Ryan.<\/p>\n

The lineage of conventional \u2013 as opposed to de facto<\/em> \u2013 Irish gangsters proceeds from Martin Cahill to Gilligan and the Kinahan Cartel, and on to Gerry Hutch. The Irish media display a morbid fascination mixed with veneration for their undeniable chutzpah<\/em> \u2013 Martin Cahill\u2019s costume clown appearances on multiple court appearances springs to mind.<\/p>\n

It is certainly not an exclusively Irish phenomenon. In his autobiography, Geoffrey Robertson KC describes his fellow Australian\u2019s veneration of the Wild Colonial Boy, Ned Kelly. Further evidence emanates from the global success of Francis Ford Coppola\u2019s The Godfather (1970), or the many films of Martin Scorsese exploring mobsters\u2019 lives.<\/p>\n

It should be acknowledged that politics has always had close associations with crime, and not just in a state such as Italy under Andreotti or Berlusconi. The distribution of patronage and the promulgation of laws are often to the benefit of sectional, corporate or individual interests, who endeavour, and often grease, political machines with filthy lucre.<\/p>\n

A dirty business requires forensic and independent journalism, and may even compromise those intent on cleaning it up. JFK\u2019s brother Bobby went full throttle against organised crime post-election, but the former seems to have relied on shady elements to win the Presidential election. That unrequited love may have led, one way or another, to Dallas, Texas.<\/p>\n

As Boby Dylan put it in \u2018Murder Most Foul\u2019:<\/p>\n

Then they blew off his head when he was still in the car
\nShot down like a dog in broad daylight
\n\u2018Twas a matter of timing and the timing was right
\nYou got unpaid debts and we\u2019ve come to collect
\nWe\u2019re gon\u2019 kill you with hatred and without any respect
\nWe\u2019ll mock you and shock you, we\u2019ll grin in your face
\nWe\u2019ve already got someone here to take your place<\/em><\/p>\n

\u2026<\/em><\/p>\n

That\u2019s the place where Faith, Hope and Charity died<\/em><\/p>\n

That infamous day certainly paved the way for the cabal now in office: \u2018Business is business and it\u2019s murder most foul.<\/em><\/strong>\u2019<\/em><\/p>\n