Harris: 'I don’t intend to make a martyr out of Gerry Hutch'
Vivienne Clarke
Tánaiste Simon Harris has said he believes measures to preclude anyone with a criminal history from becoming a member of the Dáil merit consideration.
Harris was responding to a question on Newstalk’s Claire Byrne show about the Dublin Central by-election and the announcement by Gerry Hutch that he will contest the election.
“I don't intend to use this interview to make a martyr out of Gerry Hutch. The people of Dublin Central rejected him in the last general election. I don't believe he's going to win the by-election. And I think the people of Dublin Central will give him his answer again.”
Harris said he did not want to blame the media, but he did worry that Gerry Hutch was “almost treated like some sort of celebrity.
“He's not a celebrity. He's someone being actively pursued by the Criminal Assets Bureau. CAB don't come after you for the craic. They come after you for very serious reasons.
“And therefore, I just think some of this coverage of Gerry Hutch, which I don't wish to add to, by making him a martyr, giving him attention, giving him free publicity, that's what actually concerns me. This guy's not some sort of cute and cuddly celebrity.”
Harris said he would not be attending the play about Gerry Hutch, but he supported artists and people in the creative space “to do what they wish to.”
“Media, of course, have a right to, and indeed an obligation often to cover things as they see fit. I don't intend to be overly critical of any of that. The point I'm just making is, I think, yes, we already have rules in relation to who can and can't sit in our national parliament.
“It always makes sense to keep them under review, but I don't intend to make a martyr out of Gerry Hutch. I'm sure he'd be only too delighted to hear us discussing him again here on this programme and in the advertisement I'm giving him.”
