{"id":206140,"date":"2025-11-29T07:38:08","date_gmt":"2025-11-29T07:38:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/206140\/"},"modified":"2025-11-29T07:38:08","modified_gmt":"2025-11-29T07:38:08","slug":"gerry-hutch-can-take-seat-if-he-wins-dublin-byelection-due-to-gap-in-td-tax-compliance-law-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/206140\/","title":{"rendered":"Gerry Hutch can take seat if he wins Dublin byelection due to gap in TD tax compliance law \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Gerry Hutch<\/a> will be able to run in next year\u2019s Dublin byelection<\/a> and also take a seat in the D\u00e1il<\/a>, 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. <\/p>\n

Veteran criminal Hutch (62), known as The Monk, is currently being pursued for almost \u20ac800,000 by the Criminal Assets Bureau<\/a> (Cab) and Revenue<\/a>. 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.<\/p>\n

The Standards in Public Office Act 2001 introduced a tax clearance requirement for members of the D\u00e1il. However, due to the tax demand, Hutch would not be in a position to secure a tax clearance certificate from the Revenue Commissioners.<\/p>\n

However, the Standards in Public Office Commission (Sipo) has confirmed to The Irish Times that, despite the legislation, a newly elected TD\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Candidate Hutch: Why Cab, the Spanish police and a State watchdog cannot stop his D\u00e1il runOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

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\u2019 Interests of D\u00e1il \u00c9ireann. The report would also be laid before the D\u00e1il.<\/p>\n

\u201cBeyond investigating the matter and providing a report to the relevant Committee on Members\u2019 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,\u201d Sipo told The Irish Times. \u201cThe commission has no role in terms of removing a TD from their seat.\u201d<\/p>\n

A number of sitting TDs, including those who have served in Government, said they were unaware SIPO had no powers to take further action. <\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

The sources said the D\u00e1il 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.<\/p>\n

Hutch was arrested in Lanzarote last October as part of a money laundering inquiry. He was released on bail of \u20ac100,000 in early November. Though he remains under investigation there, that does not block him running in the byelection next year.<\/p>\n

At last November\u2019s general election, he secured 3,100 first preference votes and narrowly missed out to Labour\u2019s Marie Sherlock on the fourth and final seat.<\/p>\n

He has taken to social media over the last week to tease his running in the byelection next year. Garda\u00ed and local sources believe he will definitely be a candidate in that election.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Gerry Hutch will be able to run in next year\u2019s Dublin byelection and also take a seat in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":206141,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[956,9,10,47467,4767,106968,18,13,14,92241,6,19,17,11,12,15,16,5,46,1900,69289,7,8],"class_list":{"0":"post-206140","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-an-garda-siochana","9":"tag-breaking-news","10":"tag-breakingnews","11":"tag-criminal-assets-bureau","12":"tag-dail-eireann","13":"tag-dublin-central-constituency","14":"tag-eire","15":"tag-featured-news","16":"tag-featurednews","17":"tag-gerry-hutch","18":"tag-headlines","19":"tag-ie","20":"tag-ireland","21":"tag-latest-news","22":"tag-latestnews","23":"tag-main-news","24":"tag-mainnews","25":"tag-news","26":"tag-paschal-donohoe","27":"tag-revenue-commissioners","28":"tag-standards-in-public-office-commission-sipo","29":"tag-top-stories","30":"tag-topstories"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/115631849786659203","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/206140","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=206140"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/206140\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/206141"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=206140"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=206140"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=206140"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}