TONY GERGORY:

INDEPENDNENT T.D.

It's the quiet ones you have to watch, or so they say -- and 'they' could be right, in the case of Independent TD Tony Gregory, who bashfully confesses to being "a bit of a gurrier" during his schooldays!

"I was pretty wild" he admits with more than a hint of a mischievous grin ; "but it wasn't earth-shattering stuff! I robbed orchards and we used to scuttle on the grain lorries! I remember the great excitement when I saw Sheriff Street for the first time. I jumped off one of the lorries and saw all these huge blocks of flats!. I didn't rob cars or anything - because there weren't any to rob - but if there were, I might have!" 

Slightly grey and of medium build, this famously tie-less man relaxes in his Leinster House office and willingly reminisces about his early life. He was heavily swayed by the views of a father who continually related stories of historical and bureaucratic events such as the 1916 Rising and the Black and Tans years. "My father was a great admirer of Michael Collins and hated De Valera -- while the rest of the country
admired De Valera and hated Collins! But he was a big influence" he says "and when you spend twelve years of your life in one room, with no running water, no toilet, it's bound to have an effect -- you become interested in the equality in Ireland and the difference between those who have and those who have not”

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(C) Ogma Consultants 2002

(c) Audrey Healy 2001/2002