The Gerard Hutch trial failed to follow the script. It was supposed to have produced a guilty verdict and then an endorsement of that verdict by the local people, happy to have the foot of the criminal overlord removed from their neck.
It didn’t work out as the script required. Instead, Gerard Hutch walked free from the Dublin court and people from the area of Dublin in which the Hutch family lived were loud in their praise of the released man.
Oh, and I nearly forgot: the role of Jonathan Dowdall (and, as the media orifices made clear, a former Sinn Féin councillor) wasn’t quite the star turn expected. Yes, his recorded talks with Gerard Hutch appeared to make him a fearless whistle-blower, but his whistle clearly didn’t have the desired effect. So the state is left with the job of picking up the tab for Dowdall’s export and installation somewhere far away under a new identity, with nothing to show in return.
The southern media who were hopeful that this case would bathe Sinn Féin in a stark criminal light were proved wrong. Dowdall’s presentation as a liar prepared to say anything for personal gain didn’t make him the ideal witness/weapon for an attack on Sinn Féin.
So we’re left with a double paradox. The man whom the southern government invested thousands of euro in has been denounced by the judge as a liar and totally unreliable, AND he still has to receive the government’s protection in a new life.
Two other matters make this case near to farcical. Hutch has emerged as very, very popular in the Dublin community he comes from; and a citizens’ assembly has been set up to look at the ‘war against drugs’, with early signs that the people of the south want either partial or even total legalisation of the use of drugs. As things stand, it’s taking up huge amounts of gardaí time with no consequent benefits. In short, the drugs world has won the war.
A number of questions remain. Why do the north inner city people admire Gerard Hutch? Isn’t he supposed to be a blood-sucking monster? And if the war on drugs is ended and frees up gardaí to follow up on other crimes, won’t that be a good thing? Oh, I nearly forgot: is there any chance that former Shinner Dowdall could be used as a weapon with which to attack Sinn Féin? Um, no. I’ve seen pics of the American president side by side with Vladimir Putin. Does that mean he’s now on the side of Russia in the Ukraine war?
Maybe it’s time the southern media ended their war on the common sense of their readers/consumers.
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