See My Home Page and Photolibrary

See my home page at:
http://uk.360.yahoo.com/greagues2

and full photolibrary at:
http://jp-ireland.spaces.live.com

High-Grade White Heoin Making Comeback: Warning

By J. P. Anderson:
A form of high-grade white heroin is making a comeback on Britain's streets, the Serious Organised Crime Agency (SOCA) has warned.
Heroin hydrochloride was widespread during the 1970s but was replaced by more well-known "brown" heroin.
Easy to snort and inject because it is water-soluble, white heroin's dangers were made clear in Quentin Tarantino's cult film Pulp Fiction, in which Uma Thurman's character snorts the powder, thinking it is cocaine, and then collapses.
Soca has warned of a resurgence in the drug in the UK, manufactured and shipped in from Afghanistan.
Deputy Director Steve Coates said there had been a few seizures of small amounts of white heroin in the past year but the return of the drug was noticeable.
He said there had been seizures overseas in Afghanistan and Turkey, as well as a huge haul last year of £5.5 million worth of heroin, including white heroin, in straws sewn into the weave of Afghan rugs.
Mr Coates, who has been involved in investigating the heroin trade for more than 20 years, said law enforcement agencies had seen a "seismic change" in the supply to the UK.
Overseas seizures in Afghanistan and Turkey suggest large-scale producers have started to manufacture white heroin and export it to the UK.
Mr Coates said Soca is working with partners in the UK and Afghanistan and Turkey to stop the lethal drug reaching the UK.
SOCA's aim is to warn police, drugs charities and users of the return of white heroin and its dangers, he said.

Cork: Search For Missing Woman Resumes

By J. P. Anderson:
SEARCHES will resume this morning for a 60-year-old widow who has disappeared in “suspicious” circumstances. More than 40 gardaí combed Anne Corcoran’s farm at Kilbrittain, Co Cork, and an area 6km away where her car was found abandoned. Ms Corcoran, who lived alone, was last seen on January 16. While gardaí are remaining tight-lipped about any possible motive behind her disappearance, they say they are very concerned for her welfare.
“We are not treating this as a normal missing person’s case,” said Inspector Brendan Fogarty. Nothing was missing from the widow’s home which would indicate she was not planning to go away. She was in good health and did not seem to have any problems. Insp Fogarty said it was highly unlikely Ms Corcoran would drive on the Oldcastle road, near Bandon, where her green Peugeot 206 was discovered abandoned. The car was taken to Garda headquarters in Dublin yesterday where it will undergo forensic examination. It is hoped that clues will be gained from the examination which might shed light on what has happened to her. Insp Fogarty said the last confirmed sighting of the widow was at a shop in Bandon on January 16. A member of the public contacted gardaí expressing concern about Ms Corcoran’s whereabouts earlier this week and her car was located about noon last Wednesday. Gardaí suspect the Peugeot was abandoned a number of days ago by a small river at Oldcastle. Gardaí searched the river yesterday and used chainsaws and other cutting equipment to clear nearby vegetation. The widow has no children and lives alone with her two dogs, which she adores. The inspector said she would never have left the dogs alone for such a long period of time. If she was going away she would normally notify the local gardaí in Kilbrittain and she would not leave her dogs unattended. She would have put them into a kennel. “We are very anxious to hear from anybody who has seen Ms Corcoran in recent days. We are also interested to hear from anybody who may have seen the car being parked near Oldcastle,” said Insp Fogarty. Ms Corcoran is described as being 5ft tall and about eight stone in weight. She has brown wavy hair and wears slim-line glasses. Anybody with information is asked to contact Bandon Garda Station at 023-52200.

UPDATE:
ANNE CORCORAN told people she was looking forward to attending a dance in her home village of Kilbrittain, Co Cork, tonight. However, it seems unlikely the 60-year-old widow will do so following her sudden and mysterious disappearance, which has sparked a Garda investigation. Anne was born and bred in the village near Bandon and married a local farmer late in life. They have no children. Her husband, Jerry, died more than 18 months ago leaving Anne living on her own with her two dogs at the remote two-storey farm-house at Maulskinlahane, 3km north of Kilbrittain.
Ms Corcoran’s brothers, Frank and Timmy live in Kilbrittain, while she also has some nieces who reside in the region, one of whom is looking after her dogs. Locals described the widow as a private, but very friendly and polite person who was always immaculately dressed. She is also very religious and regularly attends Mass. Villagers spoke about their shock at the news of her disappearance and the fact that gardaí were treating it as suspicious. Josie O’Mahony said she had recently spoken to the widow. “She was in great form. She was talking about coming to the dance which is hosted by the hall committee. This news came as a major shock. We are all praying for her,” she said. Another local, Rita Kiernan, said she knew Ms Corcoran for many years and described her as “a very gentle person”. Patsy Northridge, the village’s assistant postmaster, said locals were very anxious about Ms Corcoran’s welfare. “It is an awful shock. It would be devastating if it was found out that somebody harmed her,” said Ms Northridge. Bridget Hennessy, who runs a shop and petrol station in the village, said the widow would pop in now and again. “She was a very nice, gentle type of person. I couldn’t believe it when I heard. It is very upsetting.” Gardaí cordoned off the farm yesterday and carried out searches through driving rain. Ms Corcoran had leased out the farm. Six kilometres away, near Bandon, gardaí had also sealed off the area where her four-door Peugeot 206 was discovered abandoned. The car was parked adjacent to a small river at Oldcastle. Both scenes were visited by Chief Superintendent Michael Finn, who is leading the investigation.
Gardaí say Ms Corcoran is a regular visitor to Bandon where she does most of her shopping. However, she was unlikely ever to travel the road the car was found on, which further adds to their suspicions. That road leads to Timoleague, rather than to Kilbrittain. Inspector Brendan Fogarty said the last positive sighting of the widow was in a shop in Bandon on January 16. A member of the public told gardaí they’d seen her in the shop and detectives confirmed this after viewing CCTV footage. “I suspect that she was seen around after that time, but as yet we can’t confirm that,” said Insp Fogarty. “Nothing is missing from her house, which arouses further suspicion.”
http://www.garda.ie/

North Kildare: Hostile Awarness About Drug Deales Growing

By J. P. Anderson:
Rosconnell is a recently completed housing estate of social and affordable housing units about a ten minute walk from the main street In Newbridge County Kildare.
The estate has already endured a problem with drug dealing and elements of that drug-dealing problem still remain, but local gardai stress that the drug-dealing problems that have emerged in this new estate are “no worse than in any other housing estate” in Newbridge.
The newly planted grasses seeds have begun to sprout in the clay of the occupied homes in the Rosconnell estate and so too, have the recently planted hedges around the gardens.
The fresh green shoots of the grasses of late winter and early springtime are not the only sight of ‘new growth’ in Newbridge and North Kildare.
There is also a quite distinct and now very hostile awareness about the presence and extent of drug dealing and related criminal activity in the housing estates and in the North Kildare region in general, which is growing steady within the families and communities around North Kildare and far beyond.
Perhaps, for the first time, communities are coming together, working in close co-operation with their local Gardai and organising themselves into united communities in their willing and united efforts and their determined stand against drugs and drug dealers operating within their communities, their towns and their county.
Their single-minded unity, sending out a very clear signal to the drug dealers - that it is time for them to leave the County of Kildare, never to return.
“Kildare is now a favourite distribution point for Dublin drugs gangs, who want to move their business out of the capital” according to Sergeant Con O’Sullivan, head of the Kildare Drug Unit.The Garda was speaking recently in the wake of a fourth recent massive drugs haul in the county totalling more than €1m. In value.
The Hauls included two kilos of heroin worth €400,000 found in a search of an apartment in Abbeylands, Clane.Cocaine valued at €5,000, plus drug making paraphernalia, was also seized during the raid.
The operation was carried out by The Dublin-Castle based National Drugs Unit as part of their on-going operations in the Kildare area which is targeting a large and complex organised crime set up, established over a period of more than twenty years past.
The main operation is allegedly organised by Troy Jordan, previously exposed publicly by the Sunday World newspaper.
He has been well known to Gardai since his early teenage years when he began dealing drugs in his native Kilnamanagh Estate in Tallaght in south-west Dublin.
The vast area of North Kildare comprising the territories, from Celbridge, Maynooth, Clane, Robertstown, Allenwood, Kilmeague, Robertstown-West, Kildare Town, Newbridge, Naas, Kill, and Athy and smaller villages and town-lands in between, are playing the role of (unwilling) host to between twelve and twenty major dug dealers, with well established links to both national and international organised crime syndicates which are based and interconnect worldwide.
Terrorist organisations such as the self-styled INLA in addition to other similar dissident republican paramilitary organisations interlink in a difficult to (‘separate-one-from-another’) nexus and organisation and combine into a lethal and volatile criminal element which presents a significant ‘force of destruction’ not alone to the local families and communities which bear the brunt of their criminal enterprise within North Kildare, but also to Irish and British peoples and communities in the broader society in Europe.
The North Kildare ‘Nexus of Evil’ has been establishing within the area since the mid 1980’s.
The major players are both ‘native’ from within the localities and major criminal elements from Dublin’s underworld, who have fled the heat of the Dublin slum areas and constant Garda monitoring to assume a quite and safer way of ‘country life’ while at the same time actively directing their international and lethal criminal enterprise in drug trafficking both into and out of Ireland.
The School of Medicine and Department of Forensic Medicine at the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (RCSI), recently presented a study on fatal shootings at their annual research day.
Details of gun deaths in Ireland between 2001 and 2005 were collated from pathology reports, garda reports, medical records and books of evidence.
During this time, there were 70 homicides, 23 suicides and 3 gun-related accidents. Information was gathered on shooting location and timing, victim-perpetrator relationship and type of gun used.
Around half gun deaths involved males aged between 21 and 30, with 63% occurring in Dublin. 57% of fatal attacks occurred between 8pm and 8am.
One in ten victims was female.
The study found that 39% of homicides were drug-related.
It is known as the 'Irish box' - 7,500 miles of water and coastline stretching from the republic's Atlantic seaboard around to Dublin in the east.
The Vast expanses of these waters are subject to freak and often rapid weather changes that, according to the US Drug Enforcement Administration, makes them 'nearly impossible to patrol' and presents an ideal launch pad for drug smugglers to penetrate the lucrative UK market.
West African gangs based in Ireland are now ‘‘major players’’ in the commercial drugs trade, according to the state’s top customs drug officer. Michael Colgan, head of the customs drug unit, described the African organised crime gangs based here as ‘‘highly sophisticated, clever and adaptable’’.
There is a “growing threat” of maritime drug smuggling along the Irish coastline.
Michael Colgan said the EU police agency Europol described the Irish and British coastline as “vulnerable” to drug trafficking. “Europol highlighted it as a specific threat and it is a constant issue for us. It is a growing threat,” said the director of Customs Drug Law Enforcement.
The international criminal gangs behind the alleged smuggling network will continue to use Ireland as a distribution centre for cocaine aimed at the British market, despite the physical risks presented by west Cork's rugged coastline.
Heroin and cocaine use now dominates the Irish drugs market, while ecstasy and cannabis availability appears to have dropped significantly, according to new figures. Garda and customs statistics show seizures of heroin have soared in 2006 while continuing high levels of cocaine have been intercepted.
(Quote from previous article:
“This week, there was another funeral. The man who was buried, a father in his 40s, had been a drugs user.
Until toxicology results are available, it won't be clear how the man died but it's reckoned his taking of drugs such as heroin contributed to his death.He is the third drugs user in the County to be buried in the past 10 days.
That is just Wexford.
Another man died in Waterford last weekend of suspected cocaine abuse.
A man I met at a petrol station in Wexford (while I was on the way to cover the story there) was preparing to go to County Offaly to a funeral of another man who died of suspected drug overdose.
That's 5 deaths in 10 days that has come to my attention.
I don't even know how many others have died in the past 10 days in Dublin, Cork, Galway, Limerick and other places because of the decrepit march of the drugs demon around the country.
If these people were dying at one time in one place (such as a shooting at a University) there would be a national outcry.
But the information I have is that people are dying now every week from drugs overdoses all across Ireland. This, to me, is a crisis.
But what Government minister has said the same thing? Not one.
Even the opposition politicians don't seem to have their finger on the extent of this disaster - and it is a disaster“).

Teens Living In Drug Dept Terrorised Into Suicide By Dealers

By J. P. Anderson:
Gardai are encountering an increasing number of cases where young people in debt to drug dealers, and in fear of brutal beatings or being shot, are taking their own lives or dying from suspected drug overdoses.
In the Garda Northern Division in Dublin, the suicides of three young men are also being attributed to the fear of beatings or being shot by drug dealers to whom they owe money.
One of them hanged himself after being told he was going to be beaten for a minor debt for cannabis. It is understood that even after he died his family was warned that they had inherited the debt and had to pay it off.
A senior garda source in Dublin said that gardai were very aware of the problem but there was nothing they could do unless the young people under threat came to them.
"We can help them, but they are too frightened. These people [the dealers] have whole communities living in fear," the source said.
He said that gardai knew of cases where families had to go to the credit union to pay off drug debts owed by their children.
He added that the street dealers were themselves coming under pressure from the bigger dealers to make prompt payments for drugs, and the street dealers, who are often only 17- or 18-years-old, was increasingly using violence to collect debts.
One source said that in the north inner city, a 17-year-old girl dealer had openly threatened a young man with drug debts, shouting at him that he would get a "bullet" if he didn't pay up -- after kicking him and spitting in his face. The youth, much taller than the girl, was terrified.
The family of a teenage boy who died last month appealed to other parents to watch carefully over their sons and daughters if they began to show signs of anxiety.
The family asked that they not be identified and, although they did not say so, it was evident they feared violence if they spoke publicly.
The boy's mother said: "I ask other mothers and fathers to be very careful. [Naming her son] was very anxious. He wouldn't say what the matter was. We asked him. He was very afraid.
"He changed completely. [The boy's name] was very outgoing, but he changed. He wasn't himself. The last couple of weeks he was very anxious, very anxious. People need to be aware that this is going on across this city." They are still waiting to find out how their son died. It could be months before post mortem and toxicology results are known.
Garda sources said last week that, despite warnings that the flow of heroin into the country was increasing, little work had been done in preparation for tackling the spread of the drug right throughout the country.
In Wexford, Labour Councillor David Byrne said that as the problem of addiction was spreading, the Government was cutting back on money for treatment centres.
In Wexford the two centres providing counselling and help with detoxification both had the budgets they receive from the Government's Drugs Taskforce quango cut by around 40 per cent.
"There are hundreds of addicts here. We reckon in the past couple of years cocaine use has gone up by 60 per cent and heroin addiction has grown by at least 50 per cent. These are only guesses, but the situation is horrific. There is no methadone, which could help at least stabilise the problem for some of the people."
The Cornmarket Project in Wexford, for which Councillor Byrne works, had its 2009 budget cut by more than €45,000. He said that, since the introduction of the 2001 Mental Health Act, it had become impossible to get people taken into psychiatric wards unless they displayed symptoms like self-harm or threatened suicide.
"The legislation needs to be looked at. The health boards should be working to help this problem, but unless people present with psychiatric problems they can't be admitted for treatment."
Few addicts could afford treatment and counselling provided by private clinics.
He said he was aware that young addicts were coming under severe pressure from dealers and were being driven to commit crime to raise money for drugs.
"If the Government were any way serious, it would do something. It has been told over and over again."
Recent related article:
Rural Ireland is being gripped by the spread of heroin as never before, and gardai are predicting it will reach epidemic proportions -- as the world supply of the drug reaches record level, combined with an almost total lack of treatment centres outside Dublin and a few major towns.
Heroin is the drug of economic recession, gardai say. It took hold in the working class suburbs of Dublin in the bleak days of the early Eighties and they now fear that the onset of the new recession will see its spread throughout the country, as ruthless dealers reach into rural communities.
A brief survey by the Sunday Independent recently indicated that north Donegal appears to be one of the few places that heroin had not taken hold.
In the past 10 years, the drug began spreading out from Dublin along the N7 into the midlands, but in the past two years a second major distribution centre has emerged in Limerick. Heroin -- mimicking its effect on the human body -- is spreading along the main road arteries of the State, reaching towns and villages almost everywhere.
Gardai said they are now encountering heroin dealing and addiction almost everywhere.
Cavan town, it emerged last month, has an estimated 200 addicts and the town is supplying heroin to surrounding rural villages and towns.
Gardai said recently that heroin has hit Kerry "like a tornado" as Limerick gangs have begun swamping the area -- with heroin now turning up right across the county in towns and villages where the drug had previously been unheard of.
Ennis in County Clare is also being targeted by the gangs and the town may have at least 100 addicts -- many involved in dealing the drug to people in outlying areas. "About five years ago there were two people known to be using heroin here," one garda commented. "I don't think we know the exact number, but it is becoming very common. It is very worrying. There is a lot of associated crime."
Clonakilty has a "very bad" problem, according to Cork gardai, who say they are mystified as to why it has become a centre for heroin.
Fishing towns and villages are being hit by the drug, as young men involved in the fishing industry, from Killybegs in Donegal to Duncannon in Wexford, appear particularly badly affected.
Athlone and the other major midlands towns were the first places outside Dublin hit by the drug and have been experiencing growing problems -- as heroin becomes more easily available outside Dublin and Limerick. Portlaoise has at least 200 heroin addicts, a court heard earlier this year.
An operation mounted by gardai in Galway along with the Garda National Drug Unit last year, targeting what local gardai thought was the sale of cocaine in the city centre; found that they were actually witnessing the street sale of heroin.
The number of addicts in Galway city is not known, but like many other parts of the country, it is encountering a major increase in burglary and larceny crime associated with heroin addiction.
Waterford and Wexford have had heroin for several years but it is growing rapidly, gardai say. Two years ago, in New Ross, Co Wexford, according to local sources, local drug dealers deliberately cut off the supply of cannabis and offered young people heroin to smoke instead -- a habit that becomes instantly addictive, and the town now has a significant number of addicts.
In Kerry, gardai are coming across addicts who owe money to Limerick gangs and are so frightened of being murdered that they are committing robberies with the intention of being caught and sent to prison. This year, two accused addicts actually told courts that they wanted to go to prison and did not want suspended sentences.
A large proportion of cases coming before the district and circuit court in Dundalk are related to heroin addiction and the town now has a substantial number of addicts, many of them homeless.
Portlaoise could have the worst per-capita problem in the State, although Athlone may be ahead of it. Three years ago, Judge Mary Martin commented on a report by the Regional Drugs Task Force which stated that there were 18 heroin=users in Portlaoise. She said: "This court can confirm there are 200 and name them if necessary." A local garda source could not put a figure on the current level of addiction but said he assumed it had "doubled".
A drugs counsellor in Kilkenny recently said: "Kilkenny's heroin problem needs to be tackled now because we seem to be losing the battle." The town and county -- as with most counties -- lacked any rehab or treatment centres.
The absence of any facilities or effective treatment has led to the formation of a group in Limerick headed by the former Munster and Ireland rugby player Gerry McLoughlin, who says there are "thousands" of addicts in Limerick city and surrounding areas and no means of treatment or of tackling the problem.
"There are all these people in quangos who are supposed to be dealing with this, but we can see nothing being done. There is no treatment or rehab centre in Limerick. We see all these people -- politicians included -- in their plush, posh offices doing nothing. They are out of touch with the suffering of people on the ground." The Labour Party councillor said a group of about 50 concerned people in Limerick had come together to try and tackle the problem.
"There is no detox, no rehab, and no residential care. This is tearing families apart and having a devastating effect on the community."
Gardai in Sligo have said that the problem is certainly increasing in the town. Two years ago, it was estimated there were only 15 addicts in the town, but this has now "mushroomed", one garda said. They believe the Limerick gangs were supplying the local market, moving up the N18 and N17 from Limerick.
The falling price of the drug has exacerbated the problem. A "fix", more commonly known as a "bag", retails for about €16 in the capital city and around €25 in the rest of the country. The major suppliers, gardai say, are the same gangs and families from the Ballyfermot, Clondalkin and Finglas areas that have been supplying the Dublin market for more or less two generations now, many of them having moved to England are using young dealers to spread the product around Ireland.
The failure of the United States and NATO to build a proper government in Afghanistan has meant that heroin production has reached record proportions.

Independent TD Tony Gregory Dies In Dublin

By J. P. Anderson:
Independent TD Tony Gregory has died at the age of 61 after a long illness.
The Dublin Central TD died in St Francis Hospice, Raheny, this morning, after a long battle with cancer.
Tributes to Mr Gregory have already begun pouring in, describing him as "a legend in his own time" and "a true servant of the people".
Mr Gregory had cut his political teeth as a member of Dublin City Council when he secured a Dáil seat in the February 1982 general election. He rose to national prominence when as a newly-elected Independent TD he struck a deal with Charles Haughey to return Fianna Fail to government. Although newly-elected, he showed himself to be methodical and streetwise in his dealings with Haughey who was striving to have Fianna Fáil replace the short-lived FG-Labour government. The multi-million pound “Gregory deal” is now part of Irish political folklore. The Dublin Central TD received detailed written commitments from Haughey, in February 1982, which it was estimated could cost the exchequer £80 million in a full year. The written agreement included commitments to nationalise a 27-acre site in Dublin Port and Clondalkin Paper Mills. A total of £4 million was to be allocated to employ 500 extra people in the inner city, while 3,746 jobs were to be created over three years. State funding would be provided to build 440 new houses in the constituency and another 1,600 in the rest of Dublin. Had that government lasted, the face of a deprived area of the north inner city could have been transformed, but Haughey lost power in December and much of the deal became history. It was to be Mr Gregory’s first and last heady taste of real political power, although he was to be returned at every subsequent general election. Mr Haughey’s opponents accused him of financial profligacy, given that he was prepared to spend so much taxpayers’ money on one constituency to secure power. Then, and later, Mr Gregory strongly defended the deal, referring to the appalling levels of social deprivation in his constituency at the time. In 1986 he was jailed because of his stance on behalf of traditional Dublin women street traders, repeatedly refusing to sign a bond to keep the peace and ensure his early release. He consistently highlighted the drug problem in his constituency. In 1984, he said he had no misgivings about the then concerned parents against drugs movement. The community response was the main reason for the decline in addiction, he added. He campaigned for a ban on hare coursing, moving a Dail private member’s Bill which was defeated. The Irish Council against Blood Sports presented him with a special award for his work in that area.
Taoiseach Brian Cowen said he was saddened to learn of Mr Gregory's death. "Tony served his community of the inner city at a national level with great dedication and distinction for over a quarter of a century. He was a proud Dubliner, a great advocate for his community and a diligent public representative," he said. "Prior to his passing, Tony was by far the longest serving independent deputy in the Dáil. The people of Dublin Central consistently voted for Tony because of his well-deserved reputation for hard work and his commitment to the disadvantaged in our society." Mr Cowen added: "He had an insightful knowledge of many issues especially social deprivation and the problems caused by drugs. I have no doubt he will be greatly missed by all his Oireachtas colleagues who respected him greatly." Fine Gael Leader Enda Kenny said Mr Gregory was "an original mould breaker" with his creation of the Gregory Deal, who disrupted the "cosy comfort" of Dáil tradition when he refused to wear a tie in the Dáil chamber. “Tony Gregory was a fearless defender of his inner city constituents, proud of his heritage, and absolutely courageous in standing up to drug barons and drug pushers. He epitomised his love of country by his continuous and frequent use of the Irish language, which he spoke so well and with such clarity," Mr Kenny said. “He bore his illness with great dignity, and typical of his demeanour and personality, said in reply to my asking how he was, just some sort time ago: ‘I don’t talk about it, this is something I have to cope with myself, alone’. I admired his conviction and his total commitment to his people. We shall miss him."
Labour leader Eamon Gilmore said Mr Gregory’s death marked a sad beginning to 2009 and offered his condolences to Mr Gregory's family. "Tony had been a public representative for Dublin’s north inner city for many years and he served his constituents with distinction, both as a member of Dublin City Council, and of course as a TD in Dail Eireann," he said. "Tony was a man of conviction, and commitment and sought at every opportunity, to address the social problems; the unemployment; the threat posed by drugs; and the economic deprivation, that beset many parts of his constituency. He was a true advocate of the people of Dublin Central who repaid him by returning him as a TD in every general election since 1982. Tony was a hero to the people of the north inner city. "Political life in Ireland is a much poorer place on his passing."
Former Taoiseach Bertie Ahern said Mr Gregory played an honourable part in securing progress right across Dublin’s many communities. “For almost 30 years we have been constituency colleagues, political opponents and always good friends,” said Mr Ahern, Fianna Fail TD for Dublin Central. “Today, I want to pay tribute to a politician who gave total commitment to his constituents and made an undoubted difference to the city he loved. “Tony entered politics as a community activist and his commitment to the people of inner city Dublin went right to his core.” Mr Ahern said Mr Gregory was one of the hardest working TDs in the Dail. “Any economic and social history of Dublin over the last 30 years will be incomplete without reference to the determined work of Tony Gregory,” he said. “He will be remembered as a man of integrity and a hardworking public representative.”
President Mary McAleese also conveyed her sympathies to Mr Gregory’s family. Fellow Independent Deputy Finian McGrath said Ireland had lost a great TD and a champion of the weakest sections of society. “Tony was also a close friend and advisor for 25 years,” said Mr McGrath. “I would not be in the Dail without the support and guidance from Tony. He taught me everything about politics. Above all he was a man of great ability and integrity. He will be deeply missed by us all.” Labour TD Joe Costello said he was "shocked and saddened" to hear of Mr Gregory's death, describing the independent TD as "a legend in his time". "He was deeply committed to the eradication of poverty in the north inner city and much of his political life was spent on seeking to improve the quality of housing and education and on combating unemployment, particularly in the north inner city," Mr Costello said. "He was a champion in the fight against drugs in the 80s and 90s when whole communities were threatened by heroin and cocaine. "Our constituency of Dublin Central will be much the poorer at his passing."
Dublin’s Lord Mayor Eibhlin Byrne said Mr Gregory was "a true servant of the people". "At a bleak time in Dublin’s history he fought hard to alleviate deprivation and ensure job creation in Dublin’s north inner city," she said. "He did not seek self-aggrandisement but rather drove a hard bargain on behalf of his people. Tony was a pragmatic politician who dealt in reality rather than political grandstanding and his legacy can be seen throughout the inner city. "Respected by politicians of all shades, Tony achieved much in his life. Whether you agreed or not with the Gregory Deal one could only respect the man who sought and won so much for his people."
(Editor’s note: Tony and I shared a similar style of childhood, playing around the Bog of Allen at the foot of the Hill of Allen in my native County Kildare and into the adjoining county of Offaly where Tony spent much of his childhood.
In 1996 - 1997 Tony wrote me into the record of Dail Eireann as the pioneer of the anti-drugs movement saying that “my work against drugs had started long before others had seen that there was a problem with drugs”.
Many politicians have professed to being motivated by a ’socialist ideal’ but Tony Gregory was a true socialist, because he lived each minute of each day with the sole aim of helping the most deprived and marginalised within the community.
Tony Gregory will continue to walk with us in our fight against drugs, poverty and injustice because the people born and brought up in the starkest of poverty and deprivation were the people that Gregory lived amongst, lived for and represented for almost 30 years.
Rest in peace Tony, we will continue to love, remember and cherish your memory until the end of time).

Public Alert: UK Police Appeal Over Missing 10 Year Old

By J. P. Anderson:
UPDATE: Missing child found safe:

Police are searching for a 10-year-old girl who went missing after an argument with her family.
Hertfordshire police said Alisha Sweeney went missing from her home in Bridlington Road, South Oxney, on Saturday afternoon.
Officers searched throughout the night and a police helicopter was called in to assist.
A force spokeswoman said: "Alisha Sweeney has been missing since 3pm yesterday (Saturday) afternoon from her address in Bridlington Road, South Oxney.
"She had a disagreement with her family and was reported missing to police at 10.15pm last night.
"Officers have been working throughout the night to try to track her and have used extra resources including a police helicopter."
She said it was possible the girl may be staying with a friend.
Police described Alisha as white, 5ft tall and of slim build, with light brown shoulder length hair.
She was wearing an all in one grey jogging tracksuit with white trainers and was carrying a pink and blue rucksack.
Police urged friends or anyone who knows where she is to call them on 0845 33 00 222.

Please Copy: