Several Irish stars, including Paul Mescal and Kerry Condon, have been invited to join the Academy

Several other Irish names have also been invited

It's already been a hell of a year for Paul Mescal and Kerry Condon, who both earned Oscar nominations for their roles in 'Aftersun' and 'The Banshees of Inisherin', respectively.

Now, the pair are amongst a number of Irish people who have been invited to join the Academy - a prestigious honour that will allow them to cast their vote on the Academy Awards every year.

'An Cailín Ciúin' director Colm Bairéad  has also been invited to join, as have the Oscar-winning director of the short film 'An Irish Goodbye', Tom Berkeley and Ross White. Producer Fodhla Cronin O'Reilly and David Burke of US-based animation studio Laika were also invited.

The Irish contingent is amongst the 398 individuals who have been deemed to have "distinguished themselves by their contributions to motion pictures" were invited to join the The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences - which has almost 10,000 members. Part of their remit is to select the nominees and winners of the Academy Awards.

Other non-Irish big names who were also invited to join this year include Taylor Swift, Austin Butler and Abel Tesfaye aka The Weeknd.