Bertie Ahern (Dublin Central, Fianna Fail)

I wish to be associated with the many fine tributes that have been paid here this morning to our late colleague, Tony Gregory. For almost 30 years, Tony and I have been shadowing each other at residents' meetings, public meetings and events of all kinds in our shared constituency of Dublin Central. We must have attended thousands of such meetings together and throughout that entire period we have been constituency colleagues, political opponents and friends.

When I first came across Tony, he was a community activist in the north inner city in the late 1970s. He became a member of Dublin City Council in 1979, the year after me. I was a Deputy for the constituency of Dublin Finglas but as it became clear that my political base was going to move into the new constituency of Dublin Central, I began to see more and more of Tony on a daily basis. We were both striving to do our best for people living in Dublin's inner city communities in the early 1970s.

It would be dishonest of me to say that Tony was someone I always agreed with because he would certainly look down at me today and say that was not a fair remark. He was most definitely a politician I greatly respected. Ideologically, we may have differed on what were the best solutions but Tony was always earnest and sincere. As a long-time political rival and an admirer of his, I can offer a genuine assessment that Tony Gregory gave total commitment to his constituents and made an undoubted difference to the city he loved. Everything that has been said by everyone here this morning, beginning with the Taoiseach, is very relevant. While he will be remembered nationally for perhaps a handful of issues, the breadth of his interests, both international and domestic, was extremely wide. I attended many meetings and heard him speak in the House and I heard him express his views on all those different issues.

Deputies will appreciate that there was always much competition and rivalry between Tony and I and our respective supporters but that rivalry was never personal and I believe it benefited our constituents who gained from our eagerness to deliver for local residents. In all my years as an office holder, Tony and his friends always asked me to attend events of which they were the originators or in which they were passionately involved. I always appreciated that. Our rivalry was also the source of much banter and fun over the years in the constituency, and even beyond the constituency. Throughout the 1980s, he was the guy without the tie and I was the fella in the anorak.

Today, I want to acknowledge Tony's unyielding efforts on behalf of our community and our constituency. He worked hard always, even during his illness. His untimely passing means Dáil Éireann has lost one of its hardest working Deputies. His constituents have lost a passionate and committed representative. He has also played an honourable part in securing progress in improving the quality of life of Dubliners, and not only in Dublin Central.

On the day he passed away I said that any economic and social history of Dublin over the past 30 years would be incomplete without reference to the determined work and strong commitment of Tony Gregory. That perhaps started with the Gregory deal but it never ended for him. He continued to passionately argue for all of those actions he believed should be done. Whenever those records are written it will surely be the case that his input is acknowledged.

Tony Gregory achieved much for Dublin and in Irish public life. I would like to mention two areas, one of which has been mentioned by almost every Member and another that has not been mentioned at all. On the drugs issue, I am aware, probably more than most, of the chances he took in leading those campaigns, and he was the leader of them. He took on some of the most vicious and ugly individuals who were part of the citizens of the great capital that Dublin was during the 1980s and into the 1990s. That was not without enormous risk, and it would be unfair if that determination was not acknowledged long after these contributions conclude.

The other was an issue he raised frequently during Taoiseach's Question Time. In all the years I held that position, he came in here to question me about the ongoing work on the issue of the Dublin and Monaghan bombings. He never let an opportunity go — the questions were normally in his name or the names of other Deputies — to raise that issue. Much of the work that took place, and the motivation to continue that work and the efforts I put in to continue it, were because he had raised the issue time again both privately and publicly, and in this House.

I will remember Tony as a man of integrity, a hard-working public representative and an all-round decent guy. While we were political rivals, with the exception of one issue that arose way back on which we differed, we were able to get on and do our work as good friends.

I extend my sympathy to his partner Annette, his brother Noel, all his family and friends, and to all his supporters both in and outside Dublin Central my deepest sympathies. Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam dílis.

See this speech in context