Overview
- Hutch’s name was added to the returning officer’s register Wednesday after he filed nomination papers in Dublin.
- Six candidates are confirmed so far: Fine Gael’s Ray McAdam, the Social Democrats’ Daniel Ennis, People Before Profit’s Eoghan Ó Ceannabháin, and independents Mannix Flynn, Malachy Steenson, and Gerry Hutch.
- Nominations close at midday on Friday 1 May, with expected entries including Sinn Féin’s Janice Boylan, the Greens’ Janet Horner, Labour’s Ruth O’Dea, Aontú’s Ian Noel Smyth, and Fianna Fáil’s John Stephens.
- The contest fills the seat vacated when Paschal Donohoe left for a World Bank post, and the vote is set for May alongside a Galway West by-election.
- In 2024 Hutch won 3,096 first-preference votes and finished on 5,321 after transfers, and the Special Criminal Court has described him as head of the Hutch Organised Crime Group.