It turns out we didn't need to try to claim Kenneth Branagh, Michael Fassbender style after all. We actually have more than one nominee at The 84th Academy Awards this year.
We have talented sorts nominated in the Best Short Film (Live Action) category with Peter McDonald and Eimear O'Kane's Pentecost and Terry George and Oorlagh George's Northern Ireland-set The Shore; while Irish make-up artist Lynn Johnston is nominated in the Best Make Up category for Albert Nobbs - which was shot on location in and around Dublin last year. A hearty congrats to all those nominees.
Do we really need to stoop to the level of some the British media and attempt to claim a very British actor and director, though? Michael Fassbender was always geographically ambiguous; when I met him his accent went from very regional Irish to almost German. That's what happens when you've been raised, or lived in primarily different places. Brendan Gleeson and Saoirse Ronan being nominated at the London Critic Awards on the other hand is just ridiculous. Let the row continue...