The veteran criminal had opened up a seemingly unassailable lead over rival Marie Sherlock in Dublin Central by Sunday afternoon but there was to be a final twist in one of the stories of the general

Failed election candidate Gerry ‘The Monk’ Hutch became a pivotal character in the story of organised crime in Ireland when he masterminded three of the biggest armed robberies in the history of the State.

Gangland figure Gerry ‘The Monk’ Hutch was a surprise late addition to the Dublin Central constituency but is now on course to land the final fourth seat there after securing over 11.9% of first prefe

Newstalk’s political correspondent Sean Defoe is expecting Gerry Hutch to take the fourth seat adding, “The Monk will be a TD before all this is over”. Further down the tally, Labour’s Marie Sherlock is at 7.4%, Fianna Fáil’s Mary Fitzpatrick at 7.1% and Independent Malachy Steenson is at 4.8%.

The alleged crime boss had been tipped to take one of four seats in Dublin Central, but lost to Labour’s Marie Sherlock

The protracted process of sorting and counting votes in the general election has begun, with 174 TDs set to be elected across 43 constituencies over the coming days. We will have updates across the weekend as they happen.