Tony Gregory TD .RIP

A Dub in Glasgo

Really sad to hear of his death. Not many in the Dail could come close to him. RIP

A Dub in Glasgo

Deleted User wrote: »

Personally if the SF machine went after that seat I'd rather it was for Christy Burke than Mary Lou.

Shock horror, I actually agree with BB

meathstevie

As a hunter I fundamentally disagree with Tony Gregory's view on some issues but what he has achieved for his constituency is far beyond what could be expected by any stretch of the imagination. That sort of achievement demands integrity, consistency and a lot of hard work for which the man deserves to be commended and remembered as one of the rare trustworthy dedicated politicians.

As someone said earlier if SF want this seat ( a bit disrespectful discussing this topic at this stage IMO ) Christy Burke is the man to put forward.

tallus

gandalf wrote: »

Like Kenco wouldn't have agreed with all of his politics but he was an unselfish politician which is a rarity. He was a TD for the benefit of society and the community he came from. A real loss to the Dail that is bereft of standards and honesty.

RIP Mr. Gregory.

Excellent Post
Seconded, he will be sadly missed.

Pen1987

I think LostExpectation was more pointing out that its very rare to get praise for any ex-shinner/socialist etc on here and he's surprised to see it appear after his death more than anything - "hypocrisy" is the word he's looking for I believe - if thats correct, I disagree with him.

Gregory was an excellent local TD, I question if there is anyone who has served their constituency as well in the country.

With regards to his seat - and this is the politics forum, I avoided commenting on this in the Dublin forum with a similar thread because it's slightly early still but there will already be talk offline so there may aswell be some online. Cyprian Brady and Bertie were the two FF candidates to take seat along with Gregory and Joe Costello of the Labour Party. Brady got in on Berties coat-tails - 939 1st pref votes, and having presumably lost the Bertie factor for the next election he was possibly going to loose his seat. Now that there is two seats open in the next election (Gregory and Ahern) Brady probably has more chance of restarting his ailing career. Mary Lou McDonald will probably take Gregorys seat come the next election, it will be a fight between her and Patricia McKenna, but I predict McDonald due to the left-leaning seat being the vacant one.

latenia

I'm going against the popular view here but I don't think he made much difference at all to the average citizen of the North Inner City. Poverty, drug addiction and limited opportunities are still the norm for someone born in the areas between Connolly Station and the Royal Canal. I'd even say that Dermot Desmond, that well known socialist, has done far more to physically improve the area than Gregory did in his almost 30 years as the local representative. The only palpable difference I can think of is that I would walk through Summerhill at any time now whereas 20 years ago I wouldn't; although this may well be due to methadone programmes and more generous social welfare payments.

Socially, it's the different waves of immigrants, from Chinese to Nigerian to Eastern European who have made a real difference by bringing a new vitality and proactive attitude to the area rather than the ingrained expectation of state handouts and a willful dislike of anyone outside of their narrow little world. It feels bad to say it, but it's the native locals that are dragging the area down with their general attitude to life.

I found his reason for not wearing a tie to the Dail patronising in the extreme, as if his constituents couldn't at least aspire to someday have a job that might require one.

As for him being honest, well he was more honest than most in the Dail, but he was certainly guilty of nepotism when it came to the allocation of council houses.

lostexpectation

how many of the thing listed on the gregory deal were fulfilled seeing the gov it led to didn't last?

praising colloquial politics is wrong, at anytime, especially if it gets mixed up in eulogies, which may lead to it being seen as exceptable in the future.

fly_agaric

latenia wrote: »

Socially, it's the different waves of immigrants, from Chinese to Nigerian to Eastern European who have made a real difference by bringing a new vitality and proactive attitude to the area rather than the ingrained expectation of state handouts and a willful dislike of anyone outside of their narrow little world. It feels bad to say it, but it's the native locals that are dragging the area down with their general attitude to life.

:rolleyes:

latenia wrote: »

As for him being honest,....

Well, if you can't speak well of the dead, why not just stfu?...you might call me old fashioned but I really think its true!

lb163

Tony was one of the best, not a chancer or a bluffer like the rest of them

Dark_lord_ire

rip tony. Did not agree with his stance on nearly everything but hey thats what democracy is all about.

Dark_lord_ire

latenia wrote: »

I'm going against the popular view here but I don't think he made much difference at all to the average citizen of the North Inner City. Poverty, drug addiction and limited opportunities are still the norm for someone born in the areas between Connolly Station and the Royal Canal. I'd even say that Dermot Desmond, that well known socialist, has done far more to physically improve the area than Gregory did in his almost 30 years as the local representative. The only palpable difference I can think of is that I would walk through Summerhill at any time now whereas 20 years ago I wouldn't; although this may well be due to methadone programmes and more generous social welfare payments.

Socially, it's the different waves of immigrants, from Chinese to Nigerian to Eastern European who have made a real difference by bringing a new vitality and proactive attitude to the area rather than the ingrained expectation of state handouts and a willful dislike of anyone outside of their narrow little world. It feels bad to say it, but it's the native locals that are dragging the area down with their general attitude to life.

I found his reason for not wearing a tie to the Dail patronising in the extreme, as if his constituents couldn't at least aspire to someday have a job that might require one.

As for him being honest, well he was more honest than most in the Dail, but he was certainly guilty of nepotism when it came to the allocation of council houses.

do agree with you but there is atime and a place, should have said it when the man was alive

Irlbo

Was absolutely crippled when I heard this,this man was one of my hereoes,in terms of socialism this was the only man in my opinion to get it right,he did so much for the inner city and Dublin Central,a selfless devotion to people who the upper echelons of society and government couldnt give a sh*t about,a saint and a sound bloke aswell,He'll be missed,RIP Tony

MasterSun

RIP Tony Gregory
one of few tds i respect

Gregory removal to take place this evening
Tuesday, 6 January 2009 09:49
http://www.rte.ie/news/2009/0106/gregoryt.html

The removal of Dublin Central Independent TD Tony Gregory will take place this evening, followed by a funeral mass tomorrow morning.

The 61-year-old died last Friday after a year-long battle with cancer.

His remains will be removed to St Agatha's Church on North William Street in Dublin at 5pm.

His funeral mass will take place at 10am tomorrow morning.

Gardaí have urged those attending to travel on foot or to use public transport as there will be limited parking.

Meanwhile, a new development in Dublin's north inner city is to be named after the former TD.

Last night, a meeting of city councillors passed a motion to rename the site of the old Mountainview flat complex in Summerhill after Mr Gregory.

CtrlSource

An advocate for disadvantaged people, a real defender of the 'working class' and a true Dubliner.

Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam

FlutterinBantam

latenia wrote: »

I'm going against the popular view here but I don't think he made much difference at all to the average citizen of the North Inner City. Poverty, drug addiction and limited opportunities are still the norm for someone born in the areas between Connolly Station and the Royal Canal. I'd even say that Dermot Desmond, that well known socialist, has done far more to physically improve the area than Gregory did in his almost 30 years as the local representative. The only palpable difference I can think of is that I would walk through Summerhill at any time now whereas 20 years ago I wouldn't; although this may well be due to methadone programmes and more generous social welfare payments.

Socially, it's the different waves of immigrants, from Chinese to Nigerian to Eastern European who have made a real difference by bringing a new vitality and proactive attitude to the area rather than the ingrained expectation of state handouts and a willful dislike of anyone outside of their narrow little world. It feels bad to say it, but it's the native locals that are dragging the area down with their general attitude to life.

I found his reason for not wearing a tie to the Dail patronising in the extreme, as if his constituents couldn't at least aspire to someday have a job that might require one.

As for him being honest, well he was more honest than most in the Dail, but he was certainly guilty of nepotism when it came to the allocation of council houses.

I think that's a very good post and one which the people who so keen to attack you on, should read more closely, and really see what you are trying to say.

A good bit of truth in that post, even though some may not agree.

Pride Fighter

RIP, good bloke.

mountainyman

These threads shouldn't be allowed. No one is going to criticise Tony Gregory at the moment so all we get is tuff about how great he was.

oscarBravo

mountainyman wrote: »

These threads shouldn't be allowed. No one is going to criticise Tony Gregory at the moment so all we get is tuff about how great he was.

You should probably (a) read the thread before replying to it, and (b) make some sort of an effort to post on-topic.

Irlbo

latenia wrote: »

I'm going against the popular view here but I don't think he made much difference at all to the average citizen of the North Inner City. Poverty, drug addiction and limited opportunities are still the norm for someone born in the areas between Connolly Station and the Royal Canal. I'd even say that Dermot Desmond, that well known socialist, has done far more to physically improve the area than Gregory did in his almost 30 years as the local representative. The only palpable difference I can think of is that I would walk through Summerhill at any time now whereas 20 years ago I wouldn't; although this may well be due to methadone programmes and more generous social welfare payments.

Socially, it's the different waves of immigrants, from Chinese to Nigerian to Eastern European who have made a real difference by bringing a new vitality and proactive attitude to the area rather than the ingrained expectation of state handouts and a willful dislike of anyone outside of their narrow little world. It feels bad to say it, but it's the native locals that are dragging the area down with their general attitude to life.

I found his reason for not wearing a tie to the Dail patronising in the extreme, as if his constituents couldn't at least aspire to someday have a job that might require one.

As for him being honest, well he was more honest than most in the Dail, but he was certainly guilty of nepotism when it came to the allocation of council houses.

How 100% wrong you are,Tony Gregory and not just him alone,community activists made a huge contributation to the inner over the past 20 years,things areant perfect,they never will be,but its not the bleak dark hole it was man moons ago,people from the inner city on the majority are earning good living and are successful more so then they ever have been,Tony Gregory,Christy Burke,Mick Rafferty,Derek Desmond etc,achieved more then any politicians have for there constiuents since the foundation if this state.can I ask are you from Dublin Central that you could back up this claim?

Ernest

I think the whole media coverage of Tony Gregory and his funeral has been absolutely sickening. There was more minutes on air and column inches in print for this backbencher than for the much more distinguished Conor Cruise O'Brien whose recent passing hardly merited a mention, relatively speaking. The list of names who attended the Gregory funeral and of those who did not attend that of the former government minister was very revealing of our values as a society. While Conor Cruise O'Brien was an original thinker,Tony Gregory was no more than an urban version of Jackie Healy Rea - narrowly focussed on pulling strokes for his local parish - the kind of clientelist public representaive that we all claim to abhor. Furthermore, this man was a key figure in keeping the corrupt Haughey in power for many years and always was a crypto Fianna Fail/Sinn Fein sympathiser. The "Gregory Deal" looks even more pathetic in retrospect but part of it involved the total cancellation of any move to develop the much needed Eastern By-Pass Route which, ironically, has come back into consideration again on the day of his funeral. Meanwhile, the Dublin region has been deprived of this vital piece of infrastructure for the past quarter of a century thanks to the blackmail power of one backbench TD.

CtrlSource

Ernest wrote: »

I think the whole media coverage of Tony Gregory and his funeral has been absolutely sickening. There was more minutes on air and column inches in print for this backbencher than for the much more distinguished Conor Cruise O'Brien whose recent passing hardly merited a mention, relatively speaking. The list of names who attended the Gregory funeral and of those who did not attend that of the former government minister was very revealing of our values as a society. While Conor Cruise O'Brien was an original thinker,Tony Gregory was no more than an urban version of Jackie Healy Rea - narrowly focussed on pulling strokes for his local parish - the kind of clientelist public representaive that we all claim to abhor. Furthermore, this man was a key figure in keeping the corrupt Haughey in power for many years and always was a crypto Fianna Fail/Sinn Fein sympathiser. The "Gregory Deal" looks even more pathetic in retrospect but part of it involved the total cancellation of any move to develop the much needed Eastern By-Pass Route which, ironically, has come back into consideration again on the day of his funeral. Meanwhile, the Dublin region has been deprived of this vital piece of infrastructure for the past quarter of a century thanks to the blackmail power of one backbench TD.

You're entitled to your opinion. i totally disagree. The Cruiser was ancient and Tony Gregory was not. He wasn't retired or out of mainstream circulation as it were, so of course his passing provoked a lot of interest. He was very much 'one of the people' in a way that O'Brien never even tried to be.

Contrary to your impression of the media coverage, i was disappointed with the coverage on the 9 o'clock news last night about his Removal. Only a brief mention

lostexpectation

there was colossal amounts of ccob coverage.

CtrlSource

lostexpectation wrote: »

there was colossal amounts of ccob coverage.

Yes, i thought so too

TOMASJ

RIP Tony Gregory, will be sadly missed by the ordinary people of Ireland

Irlbo

Ernest wrote: »

I think the whole media coverage of Tony Gregory and his funeral has been absolutely sickening. There was more minutes on air and column inches in print for this backbencher than for the much more distinguished Conor Cruise O'Brien whose recent passing hardly merited a mention, relatively speaking. The list of names who attended the Gregory funeral and of those who did not attend that of the former government minister was very revealing of our values as a society. While Conor Cruise O'Brien was an original thinker,Tony Gregory was no more than an urban version of Jackie Healy Rea - narrowly focussed on pulling strokes for his local parish - the kind of clientelist public representaive that we all claim to abhor. Furthermore, this man was a key figure in keeping the corrupt Haughey in power for many years and always was a crypto Fianna Fail/Sinn Fein sympathiser. The "Gregory Deal" looks even more pathetic in retrospect but part of it involved the total cancellation of any move to develop the much needed Eastern By-Pass Route which, ironically, has come back into consideration again on the day of his funeral. Meanwhile, the Dublin region has been deprived of this vital piece of infrastructure for the past quarter of a century thanks to the blackmail power of one backbench TD.

Give the people what they want,people loved Tony Gregory and had huge admiration for him,very few liked Cruise O'Brein and had no admiration for him,both deserve a mention in the national media,but for different reasons,one man worked tirelessly for the people the other worked tirelessly to surpress the people