Tony Gregory (5 December 1947 – 2 January 2009) was an Irish Independent politician and a Teachta Dála (TD) for Dublin Central from 1982 to 2009.[1][2]
Born in Dublin, Tony Gregory was educated by the Christian Brothers at O'Connell School and University College Dublin where he received a Bachelor of Arts degree. Gregory worked as a secondary school teacher at Coláiste Eoin, an Irish language secondary school in Stillorgan, where he taught History and French, before becoming involved in politics as a member of Dublin City Council from 1979 until 2004.[2][3] Gregory was a former member of Official Sinn Féin and the Irish Republican Socialist Party. At the February 1982 general election he was elected to Dáil Éireann as an Independent TD.[4]
On his election in February 1982 he immediately achieved national prominence through the famous "Gregory Deal", which he negotiated with Fianna Fáil leader Charles Haughey. In return for supporting Haughey as Taoiseach, Gregory was guaranteed a massive cash injection for his inner-city Dublin constituency, an area beset by poverty and neglect.[2] Although Gregory was reviled in certain quarters for effectively holding a government to ransom, his uncompromising commitment to the poor was widely admired. Fianna Fáil lost power at the November 1982 general election, and not all of the promises in the Gregory Deal were delivered.[5] He continued to campaign on local issues and issues of social justice, particularly the drugs problem. In 1986, Gregory and Sinn Féin Councillor Christy Burke spent two weeks in Mountjoy Prison arising from protest activities during a campaign in support of Dublin inner city street traders.
Gregory remained a TD from 1982 and, although he never held a Cabinet position, remained one of the country's most recognised Dáil deputies. He always refused to wear a tie in the Dáil chamber stating that many of his constituents could not afford them
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