Tuathals song below aludes to some of the significant Irish interest in this year’s Oscar nominations. As well as the Best Original Song nomination for Hansard and Marketa Irglova for ‘Falling Slowly’ from ‘Once’, we have made a strong showing in the acting shakes with Daniel Day Lewis nominated for ‘There Will Be Blood’ (Best Actor) and teenager Saoirse Ronan is surely on a high as news reached her in New Zealand of her nomination (Best Supporting Actress - Atonement). She is currently being directed by Peter Jackson in an adaptation of ‘The Lovely Bones’. The Irish also appear in the technical stakes with Armagh native Seamus McGarvey being nominated for his Cinematography work in Atonement, a film that looked good if nothing else. I have mentioned by unhappiness with ‘4 months, 3 weeks and 2 days’ failing to secure a nomination and so too I feel ‘The Assassination of Jesse James ‘ has been unduly neglected. ‘Michael Clayton’ is a solid piece of film making and while each of the acting nominations are deserved, I cannot but think I would readily replace it with ‘Jesse James’ in the Best Picture stakes. The true highlight of the nominations for me is the Best Supporting Actor nod for Hal Holbrook for his performance in ‘Into the Wild’, a truly wonderful performance and certainly the highlight of a poigant film.