Veteran criminal came close to winning fourth and final seat after getting almost 10 per cent of first preferences

GANG boss Gerry Hutch has failed to land a Dail seat as a nail-biting election race. The Monk, 61, was a shock contender in Dublin Central constituency and landed 3,098 first preference

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%.

Gerry 'The Monk' Hutch arrived at the RDS count centre where he was running as a candidate in Dublin Central. Video: Enda O'Dowd

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.

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