Tony Gregory

Infobox Politician
name =Tony Gregory
honorific-suffix =

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office =Teachta Dála for Dublin Central
term_start =February 1982
term_end =
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birth_date =birth date and age|1947|12|05|df=y
birth_place =Dublin, Ireland
death_date =
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constituency =
party =Independent
spouse =
religion =
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Tony Gregory (born 5 December 1947) is an Irish Independent politician and has been a Teachta Dála (TD) for Dublin Central since 1982. He held his seat at the 2007 general election.

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 in 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 in 1979. Gregory is a former member of Official Sinn Féin and the Irish Republican Socialist Party. In 1982 he was elected to Dáil Éireann as an Independent TD.

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. Although Gregory was reviled in certain quarters for effectively holding a government to ransom, his uncompromising commitment to the poor was widely admired. Since then he has continued to campaign on local issues and issues of social justice, particularly the drugs problem.

Gregory has remained a TD ever since 1982 and, although he has never held a Cabinet position, remains one of the country's most recognised Dáil deputies.

External links

* [http://www.electionsireland.org/candidate.cfm?ID=3303 Tony Gregory's electoral history] (Electionsireland.org)