Not sure I’ve seen anyone say it so bluntly, but it’s becoming clearer that criminality is the new governance. I can think of several reasons that’d happen, involving media (would you rather watch C-SPAN or The Sopranos?), crises of legitimacy (who exactly is facing this crisis), micro-Foucauldianism (f— “seeing like a state,” how about seeing like a society?), and more. But no amount of fancy theory can compensate for people “seeing” criminality — at least certain kinds of it — as closer than government to their real lives and interests: more relevant, responsive, relevant, dynamic, optimistic, effective, capable, etc, etc.
Crime boss takes on Sinn Féin leader and Brussels veteran in Dublin election
Constituency highlights cost-of-living and housing concerns in next week’s Irish vote
Jude Webber in Dublin
Voters heading to the polls in Dublin Central in Friday’s general election will have to choose from a list that includes Ireland’s opposition leader, the head of Brussels’ Eurogroup of finance ministers — and a notorious criminal.
For 65-year-old grandmother Georgina, the veteran gangster is the obvious choice.
“I definitely know who I’ll be voting for: it has to be ‘The Monk’,” the 65-year-old grandmother said, using the nickname for Gerry Hutch, patriarch of one of Ireland’s most notorious crime families. “He’s from the inner city. He knows the needs of the people.”
Georgina was speaking as she locked up her daughter’s hair salon — a small business that will shut for good in January after being hobbled by high costs — in the constituency’s hipster neighbourhood of Stoneybatter.
Taxes and the cost of living have become key issues for Taoiseach Simon Harris as he seeks a record fourth term in office for his conservative Fine Gael party. Georgina believes Hutch is the best bet for Dublin Central constituency even though police say the Hutch organised crime group is involved in drugs, money laundering and guns.
Hutch, 61, sensationally entered the race after being released on €100,000 bail following his arrest in Lanzarote for alleged money laundering, which he denies. He is one of 171 independents among the 685 candidates standing.
His rivals in the four-seat Dublin Central constituency include opposition leader Mary Lou McDonald of Sinn Féin and Fine Gael’s Paschal Donohoe, who besides his EU role was architect of Ireland’s last nine budgets as finance and then public expenditure minister.
Spanning busy shopping streets, drug and crime-ridden inner-city areas, gritty council flats and middle-class suburbs, Dublin Central reflects many of the concerns of the Irish electorate.
Ireland’s housing crisis is one of the most pressing. Official data out this week showed house prices rose more than 10 per cent in the 12 months to September and new rents are rising at more than 8 per cent.
Despite pressure on voters from the housing squeeze and high living costs, polls suggest Fine Gael and centrist Fianna Fáil are set to remain in power, unlike in UK and US elections where the incumbents lost significantly.
The former enemies, which have dominated Irish politics for a century, have governed in coalition since 2000, with the Greens as junior partner.
Buoyed by a huge budget surplus and a €14bn windfall in back taxes from tech giant Apple, parties are offering tax cuts and spending splurges such as Fine Gael’s pledge to give newborn children €1,000 in a savings account.
The FT’s poll tracker shows the race tightening: Fine Gael, which has been in power since 2011 with various partners, leads on 23 per cent, with Fianna Fáil on 20 per cent. Parties need to win 88 of the 174 Dáil seats to form a government.
Support for Sinn Féin, the anti-establishment party that came within an inch of power in 2020 after pledging to fix the housing problem, had plummeted in the past year but has recovered to 18.8 per cent.
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