TENSION BETWEEN Bertie Ahern and Tony Gregory dated back to the 1982 “Gregory deal”, the Independent TD claimed in his last media interview before his death.
He also said that, while he had found Charlie Haughey likeable, he had observed the then taoiseach treating some of his Fianna Fáil colleagues with contempt.
Mr Gregory said Mr Ahern never forgave him for the high profile he achieved when he secured a major regeneration plan for his constituency for supporting the Haughey-led minority Fianna Fáil government in which Mr Ahern served as chief whip.
In an interview with Hot Press magazine, conducted before his death from cancer earlier this month, Mr Gregory recalled how Mr Ahern had driven Mr Haughey to the then recently-elected Independent TD’s inner-city office.
Mr Haughey attended the meeting on his own.
“Bertie dropped him down – but it was only dropping him down,” said Mr Gregory. “And whatever problems there were with Ahern not being involved with the thing . . . now I’ve no doubt Haughey probably went out to Ahern and said, ‘Ah that f***er Gregory didn’t want you in there’, or something, you know?
“I don’t know whether he did or he didn’t, but it wouldn’t surprise me.”
Asked if Mr Ahern did not like that he was “left out of the equation”, Mr Gregory said: “I think Ahern was peeved that Haughey was dealing with me by himself. And all this stuff was getting frontpage headlines: what Gregory’s doing for Dublin Central. Meanwhile, the government TD, the chief whip, is getting no coverage. So, that’s bound to p*** anybody off. And it undoubtedly p***ed Ahern off big time. And he didn’t forgive.”
Asked about his relationship with Mr Haughey, he said: “When he wanted your support, he was a very likeable character. He was very down to earth . . . And he had the common touch.”
Asked whether they liked each other on a personal level, Mr Gregory said Mr Haughey had said “complimentary things” about him on a television programme a long time after the event. “I don’t know if he liked me or if he didn’t like me, but he got on with me. He never refused a meeting with me.”
Mr Haughey, he said, “knew he needed my vote but he always behaved in a most honourable, reasonable and straight way . . .
“But if he regarded you as the enemy, or if he didn’t need you or whatever, or if he regarded you as somebody who wasn’t up for the job in his own party, he could treat you publicly like s***.”
Mr Gregory also revealed he had attempted to join the IRA in his youth. “It was a spur of the moment thing, but we were quite genuine about it.”