Boylan spune că alegătorii din Dublin Central nu ridică problema imigrației iar afirmațiile lui Hutch sunt nepotrivite

Christina Finn

THERE WAS CLEAR exhaustion on the face of Sinn Féin’s Janice Boylan when she was asked last week about what she made of Gerry “the Monk” Hutch registering his candidacy for the Dublin Central by-election.
The Journal joined the Sinn Féin election hopeful on the campaign trail in Dublin 7 on Thursday evening, a day after he officially threw his hat in the ring. 
Boylan, who has been a Dublin City councillor for 12 years, gave a similar response that other by-election candidates have on the subject, stating that he is entitled to put his name forward.
However, she said his candidacy has not been coming up on the doors for her, and she does not think he will affect her vote.
Boylan spoke to The Sunday Times over the weekend about how she is related to members of the Kinahans, the drug cartel family involved in a long-running feud with the Hutches.
However, she said there is no engagement with them, adding: “There’s no connection, there never has been.”
Another thing that has not come up on the doors this time around is the issue of immigration, she said. 
“It genuinely hasn’t come up, so far anyway,” Boylan told The Journal. 
The 48-year-old candidate said it featured a lot in the local elections, with Boylan stating that people locally had a lot of concerns about it at the time.
But for the Dublin Central by-election, which takes place on 22 May, she said people are much more concerned about the “bread and butter issues”, such as housing and the cost of living. 
The party has struggled in the past to outline what its position is on migration, which became a flashpoint for the party in Dublin Central, Mary Lou McDonald’s backyard. 

Sinn Féin’s Janice Boylan and Mary Lou McDonald out on the campaign trail in Cabra last Thursday evening. Christina Finn

Christina Finn

This has been openly acknowledged by the party’s justice spokesperson Matt Carthy, who told attendees at the Sinn Féin Ard Fheis last month that the party “did make mistakes in advance of the local and European elections in terms of how we handled this issue”.
“We needed to be far clearer much sooner about where we stood and much more forceful in calling out the government’s failures,” Carthy said. 
But according to Boylan, for this election it hasn’t really been a story. 

Hutch’s comments ‘out of order’
At the official launch of her campaign in Wynn’s Hotel yesterday evening, Boylan was asked for her reaction to Hutch’s comments on “illegal immigrants” and how he believes they should be “interned”. 
She responded:

The comments that he made are out of order, as far as I’m concerned.  

Boylan was asked if she had heard from any constituents who agree with interning immigrants. 
“Not at all, not at all,” replied Boylan. 
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Jumping in to add her piece, McDonald said what she has heard on th