Joe Costello (Dublin Central, Labour)

I wish to express my sincere sympathies to Noel Gregory, Tony's brother, his partner, Annette Dolan, Tony's wider family, his secretary, Valerie, and his many friends and supporters.

Before I ever got involved in politics, Tony Gregory was a legend. In 1982, the deal with Charlie Haughey had made him a household name, not only in the north inner city but throughout the country.

I first got to know Tony Gregory through our mutual support for Dublin's traditional street traders. As the Deputy for the area, Tony represented the casual traders from Moore Street, Cole's Lane, Henry Street and surrounding streets when they were being chased from pillar to post by the gardaí at the behest of the Dublin City Centre Business Association. Through the prisoners' rights organisation I represented the same traders when they ended up in Mountjoy Women's Prison.

In 1985 our paths crossed more directly when we both supported a pram protest outside the GPO on O'Connell Street which brought traffic on one side of the street to a halt. The pram was the stall used at that time by the women traders to sell fruit, vegetables and flowers. The anthem of the day was, "Stand by your Pram". We ended up sharing a paddy wagon down to Store Street Garda station where we spent the evening in a rather smelly cell together. After a couple of visits to the Four Courts we eventually spent a week in Mountjoy Prison.

The other major issue of the day was drugs. Heroin took a terrible toll on the north inner city in the 1980s and 1990s and because addicts shared their needles in the early years it was accompanied by an epidemic of AIDS. Tony Gregory was a strong public voice of anger against State neglect of treatment facilities for addicts on the one hand and the complete failure by the State authorities to pursue drug pushers on the other. Public meetings and public marches were the order of the day for most of the 1980s and 1990s as the community fought back.

Many of the people in the Distinguished Visitors Gallery today were active members on the ground in those long, difficult years. When the State eventually woke up, the Criminal Assets Bureau introduced by Deputy Ruarí Quinn, the Proceeds of Crime Bill introduced by the then Minister, Nora Owen, and the drugs task forces introduced by Deputy Pat Rabbitte in 1996 and 1997 were developments that owed a great deal to the campaigning efforts of Tony Gregory in Dublin Central.

Tony probably would not want this opportunity to go by without me making a special plea to ensure there are no cutbacks in the current level of funding for the local drugs task forces and the local community projects which do sterling work in the fight against drugs.

Politically, Tony and I were often at odds as we both sought votes from the same rather limited pool. With some of the big names in Irish politics — Deputy Bertie Ahern, the late Jim Mitchell and Tony Gregory — Dublin Central was not for the faint hearted.

Tony never tired of chiding me in the presence of local Dublin voters, particularly inner city voters, saying, "How could you possibly vote for a culchie like that?" I did not know at that time that Tony himself was a half culchie, his mother being from Offaly, the Taoiseach's constituency.

Tony and I did agree on most policy matters. In the thousands of meetings we attended throughout the constituency for a quarter of a century, we scarcely disagreed on a single policy issue.

On a personal level Tony Gregory was witty and sharp. He enjoyed the craic and if he could get one up on one, he would do so with great glee. He was also a consummate politician. He was focused, forensic and radical. He made a significant difference in his time.

Shortly after the last election Tony was struck down with illness. His absence from meetings in the constituency was particularly noticeable as Tony never missed a meeting. He fought his illness bravely, privately and with dignity. He sadly lost that battle on 2 January 2009.

Tony will be sorely missed by his family, constituents and political colleagues alike. Ireland has lost one of its finest public representatives. Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam dílis.

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