Gerry Hutch will be able to run in next year’s Dublin byelection and also take a seat in the Dáil, if he wins, due to a gap in the law obliging newly elected TDs to have their tax affairs in order before taking their seats.
Veteran criminal Hutch (62), known as The Monk, is currently being pursued for almost €800,000 by the Criminal Assets Bureau (Cab) and Revenue. That demand was served on him recently after a Cab-led inquiry determined he owed the money arising from allegedly undeclared income between 2006 and 2010.
The Standards in Public Office Act 2001 introduced a tax clearance requirement for members of the Dáil. However, due to the tax demand, Hutch would not be in a position to secure a tax clearance certificate from the Revenue Commissioners.
However, the Standards in Public Office Commission (Sipo) has confirmed to The Irish Times that, despite the legislation, a newly elected TD’s inability to produce a tax clearance would not block them taking their seat. And if they could not produce the certificate in time, they would not be unseated.
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Should he win the Dublin Central byelection next April or May, to fill the seat of just departed for minister for finance Paschal Donohoe, Hutch would need to make a declaration within one month of the election that he is tax compliant. Within a maximum of nine months, like all newly elected TDs, he would need to produce a tax clearance certificate.
In reply to queries, Sipo said it could place such a TD under investigation for their non tax compliance. A report arising from such an investigation would be compiled and given to the Committee on Members’ Interests of Dáil Éireann. The report would also be laid before the Dáil.
“Beyond investigating the matter and providing a report to the relevant Committee on Members’ Interest, the Standards in Public Office Commission does not have a role in relation to contraventions of the tax clearance provisions of the Standards in Public Office Act,” Sipo told The Irish Times. “The commission has no role in terms of removing a TD from their seat.”
A number of sitting TDs, including those who have served in Government, said they were unaware Sipo had no powers to take further action.
Some said they had always believed while a non-tax compliant person could run in an election, they would not be able to take up their seat because of their noncompliance.
The sources said the Dáil could vote on a motion to suspend a TD, which could include, in an extreme case, voting to suspend a member until such time as they were tax compliant.
Hutch was arrested in Lanzarote last October as part of a money laundering inquiry. He was released on bail of €100,000 in early November. Though he remains under investigation there, that does not block him running in the byelection next year.
At last November’s general election, he secured 3,100 first preference votes and narrowly missed out to Labour’s Marie Sherlock on the fourth and final seat.
He has taken to social media over the last week to tease his running in the byelection next year. Gardaí and local sources believe he will definitely be a candidate in that election.
