By NiallO’Dowd

IT was an extraordinary night in Yonkers last Friday. Young Irish poured in to the meeting at Rory Dolan’s restaurant in huge numbers and many more were stranded outside, unable to get in. At one point the line of people extended outside the door and down the block.

As one of the organizers I was gobsmacked by the numbers who attended the first Irish Lobby for Immigration Reform (ILIR) meeting in Yonkers. We had provided 200 chairs in anticipation of that amount. It turns out we had miscalculated by about 800.

The night was an extraordinary triumph for the ILIR, the new group which has grabbed the immigration issue by the scruff of the neck and demanded that the undocumented Irish be legalized.

There were many questions asked when the organization was formed about whether the young Irish community would come forward. Some predicted not, believing they were too intimidated to do so.

On Friday night that question was answered. By the end of the night some 983 names had signed up for political action with ILIR, and there can be no doubt whatever that thousands more will sign in the weeks and months ahead.

In early March a lobbying day in Washington is planned by ILIR. On Friday night alone pledges of sponsorship for several buses were made, and no doubt the Irish will show up in numbers on March 8th. Washington politicians will hardly know what hits them.

There has not been such a grassroots movement since the Irish Immigration Reform Movement (IIRM) almost 20 years ago. Back then, the Morrison and Donnelly visas were the result.

Who knows what success this generation will enjoy? Even at its height I cannot remember the IIRM attracting such a huge amount of people as ILIR did last Friday. It is clear that something is stirring.

I had the sense of a great moment of relief for those who attended. Obviously the secret of being undocumented is not one people wish to talk about. Yet here it was, out in the open, and these brave souls were unafraid to talk about their situation and how it can be remedied.

It has been the worst of times for many of them, no chance of becoming legal, post-September 11 laws making it impossible to drive or to return to Ireland to visit loved ones, or to plan any kind of normal existence. At last a ray of hope on this issue shone through on Friday.

It proved once again to me that sunlight is the best remedy. Back in the 1980s there were many “wiser” figures who advised the Irish to keep their head down and maybe some crumbs from the table would trickle their way on immigration. Luckily the young generation did not listen.

Now another generation is leaping out of the shadows, prepared to take the issue head on. It was a heady experience to watch them take charge.

There were many fine speakers on the night but none more so that the young Irish woman who voiced her love for America, her confusion over the latest “No Irish Need Apply” rules and her determination to stick it out through thick and thin and to make it here. Her statements were wildly applauded.

Looking over the sea of anxious faces at Rory Dolan’s, I had a fervent wish that this will be the last generation of Irish who need to fight for status.

It is high time we established a legal emigration trail for once and for all to allow the Irish to come to America. We cannot keep coming back every decade and a half or so to fight the kind of battles we face now.

There are many good points on our side. The strong support of the Irish government is critical and it has been available.

Also the Internet has transformed the means of communication, making it possible to reach thousands across the country in the click of a mouse. (The ILIR website is at www.irishlobbyusa.org)

In the weeks to come there will be ILIR meetings in Queens, Philadelphia and Boston and soon after in other major cities around the country.

The notes of despair so recently sounded have turned instead to sounds of hope. Long may it continue until this issue is finally put to rest.