As the rest of New York slept, thousands of Irish people crept out of their slumber and boarded a convoy of buses that left the Bronx, Rockland and Queens for the ILIR rally in Washington, D.C. GEORGINA BRENNAN was on board one bus for a mini-rally before reaching the nation’s capital.

About the time the residents of Woodlawn were entering their deepest sleep, hundreds of undocumented Irish, legal Irish and even Irish American citizens braved the chilly early hour to board the bus to Washington, D.C. and the history-making day that ILIR had planned.

“I was in the middle of a dream that I was already lobbying in Washington,” said a sleepy undocumented girl as she rubbed her eyes.

“When I first woke I thought I had already done my job. But I saw my t-shirt hanging neatly on the dresser and I knew nothing had been done as long as that t-shirt remained pristine.”

By the day’s end, her t-shirt had been traded for a vote for the Kennedy/McCain bill to Senator Hillary Clinton, who held it proudly up in front of nearly 3,000 ILIR members at the Holiday Inn where the group staged a mega-rally that attracted the cream of American political life.

The early morning freeze did nothing to deter determined ILIR team leader Chris Stynes, who boarded each of the buses checking for toilet roll.

“It is the sign of a good leader that takes care of his team,” said Academy bus driver Vera.

As hundreds bundled against the chill, another team leader, Brian McKenna and his wife Caroline, arrived with boxes of maps and lobbying directions as well as a 40 foot banner that said “Legalize the Irish.”

Mary Maguire and her co-leader Brain Murray arrived smiling and bearing coffee. “You all look so great for this hour of the morning,” she laughed as she hugged Samantha Melia and her husband Liam.

Mary Brennan and her beau Charlie arrived carrying t-shirts folded neatly the night before in the back room of Kelly Ryan’s in Riverdale.

“We were working til after 10,” Mary smiled. “But it was worth it.”

Samantha chirped in that the adrenaline had everyone pumped. “This is a great day for the Irish,” she said as she marveled at all the tired Bronx and Yonkers residents creeping out of cars and taxis.

Meanwhile in Queens, sausages donated by the Butcher Block were being cooked by volunteers, Gary, Nuala, Siobhan, Geraldine, Neil, Gerry, Jimmy, Ciaran and the rest of the Queens crew. By the time the people began to arrive for the trip to Washington the esteemed cooks had a hearty breakfast ready.

Over in Rockland the bus was loaded up with primarily American citizens, voters and green card holders determined to keep Irish America alive.

“Everyone has really come out for this,” said organizers Carmel and Mick Reilly as they ticked off the names of their volunteer political lobbyists for the day.

Despite warnings from several quarters that the Irish would either not attend the ILIR rally or, if they did, they’d arrive drunk after falling out of the pub, nobody was inebriated.

One Irish lad with dancing blue eyes had taken a brief drink to warm his body and was told off by an organizer, but the two were seen later in the day working closely to change a congressman’s mind on immigration.

Everyone came clean-shaven, washed and dressed to kill.

“I had been told not to wear jeans but I wore them and my cousin wore jeans. We even have sneakers on and we are wearing county jerseys, but you know what, today we are rewriting the way lobbying is done in Washington,” said an enthusiastic guy called Mick.

Later on he was overheard telling a story of a senator’s aide meeting him and recognizing his football jersey, and requesting one. So he gave it to her.

Mick said he would wait until the end of the day to see if he got a date out of the exchange. He didn’t. But he said it was worth it for the memories.

“People tried to put us down, they said as undocumented we couldn’t go to Washington, that we were all mad. That we were going to get arrested. Well, I’ll tell you now that was just the usual begrudgery,” he added.

The begrudgery certainly didn’t keep anyone in their beds. Some construction guys reported they weren’t able to go because their bosses had threatened to fire them if they took the day off, but still at a few minutes shy of four in the morning, the lines in the Bronx were tight to get on the buses.

Irish American lawyer Sean Downes, who had a last minute reprieve from court, stood bouncing to keep the chill away as he asked for a spot on the second bus to depart, even though he had not been signed on. Sean got a seat and made the trip with gusto.

“I just want to get everyone on the bus and down to Washington,” said a determined Micheal Corridan, the bus boss for the day.

So, he ripped the name sheets in half and divided the roll call among the volunteers. Susan Gardiner and her friend Margaret Fox bundled onto the bus rearing to go. “Anything you want us to do, speak, fold, smile, we will do it, we are here to help in any way that we can,” said Gardiner as she scanned the bus for a seat. Once in Washington the two girls were busy filling folders to arm the volunteer lobbyists with.

When Sligowoman Nuala Henry and her daughter Siobhan arrived they were dispatched with a speaker pack and told that they would be putting their voices directly in the campaign as lobby group leaders for the day. At first unsure, Nuala was later heard cajoling one congressman to support the campaign.

Ten construction workers tried to get on the bus, but their friend Aidan had neglected to put their names on the list. Though they didn’t get on that early bus to leave they made it to Washington by catching the last bus to leave the Bronx.

Sister Christine Hennessey, beaming from ear to ear despite the early hour, arrived as a representative of Catholic Charities and the Aisling Irish Center.

“I think what the young people have done in this community for this cause has been just fantastic,” she gushed as she boarded the bus.

As the bus began to fill one bright eyed woman was seen with her three young children boarding the bus. Una Fee and her children Oisin, Liam and Danielle were thrilled to put on their ILIR t-shirts and experience the trip.

“I’m really looking forward to this,” said Oisin.

“I think it’s important for Congress to see families here. This issue affects all of us,” Una said as she dispatched breakfast on the go items to her brood.

Despite other passengers’ concerns that the children might find the day’s activities too much, the ones still standing at the end of it all were the three brave Fee children.

“This is fantastic,” gushed Danielle as she waited to board the last bus home, some 14 hours after she had left Woodlawn.

“This is a very historic day, nobody could miss it,” said Myles O’Connor from Wexford as he joined the troops.

Back at the start of the day, bus driver Mickey, a Washington native, started her tour guide information speech, much to the passengers’ delight. They were later given a mini rally by their team leader.

“You came here as a single person, but today you will be known as New York 8. You are a bus now, you are part of a group and you are fighting the fight as a machine,” they heard over the microphone.

“And we are not getting back on this bus until all of Washington knows that we came.” They erupted then into cheers so loud they drew stares from drivers on the New Jersey Turnpike.

By taking the lead in the convoy of seven buses, Mickey managed to enter Washington, D.C. a half an hour early and with a treat for the passengers of New York 8.

“If you look straight out your front window you will see Capitol Hill,” she said loudly.

“You won’t believe me, but I’m right here staring at Capitol Hill,” said Sean Mackin on the phone to a friend.

“We are here, we are finally here,” said an excited Brenda Casey to her seat mate.

And there they were ready to join the almost 3,000 history making heroes of the day.