1977, stating in a Hot Press interview, published after his death, that he had "agreed to join on paper, but had never got involved with the political organisation itself". He was briefly associated with the Socialist Labour Party. Independent politician Gregory contested the 1979 local elections for Dublin City Council as a "Dublin Community Independent" candidate. At the February 1982 general election he was elected to Dáil Éireann as an Independent TD. Work as a TD On his election in February 1982 he immediately achieved national prominence through the famous "Gregory Deal", which he negotiated with Fianna Fáil leader Charles Haughey. In return for supporting Haughey as Taoiseach, Gregory was guaranteed a massive cash injection for his inner-city Dublin constituency, an area beset by poverty and neglect. The deal was witnessed by ITGWU leader Michael Mullen and all details were made public. The written agreement included commitments to nationalise a 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. The whole deal was worth an estimated £100 million at the time, in comparison to the £850,000 deal offered by Garret FitzGerald of Fine Gael. Although Gregory was reviled in certain quarters for effectively holding a government to ransom, his uncompromising commitment to the poor was widely admired. Fianna Fáil lost power at the November 1982 general election, and a lot of the promises made in the Gregory Deal were not implemented by the incoming Fine Gael-Labour Party coalition. He was involved in the 1980s in tackling Dublin's growing drug problem. Heroin had largely been introduced to Dublin by the Dunne criminal group, based in Crumlin, in the late 1970s. In 1982 a report revealed that 10% of 15- to 24-year-olds had used heroin at least once in the north inner city. The spread of heroin use also led to a sharp increase in petty crime. Gregory confronted the government's handling of the problem as well as senior Gardaí, for what he saw as their inadequate response to the problem. He co-ordinated with the Concerned Parents Against Drugs group in 1986, who protested and highlighted the activities of local drug dealers, and defended