The nation's musicians may no longer regard the Eurovision Song Contest as theirs for the taking, but, elsewhere, one corner of another, more prestigious, jamboree has been occupied by Irish talent. The triumph of Martin McDonagh's Six Shooter, a grim comedy featuring Brendan Gleeson, at the Academy Awards on Sunday night stands as the culmination of a notable run of Oscar recognition for Irish short films.
McDonagh's picture, winner of the best live action short award, was the fourth such release to pick up a nomination since Dance Lexie Dance received the nod in 1998. The others, both listed in the best animated short category, were the sinister Fifty Percent Grey and the charming Give Up Yer Aul Sins.
Six Shooter's eventual success - sadly, none of the earlier films won - is worth noting for a number of reasons. It highlights the cunning of Irish producers in getting their shorts before Academy voters just as those notables are considering which way to cast their ballots. More significantly, Sunday's victory points up the steady growth in international recognition for domestically produced cinema since the Irish Film Board was reconstituted in 1993.
It has been a slow slog and, over those intervening years, some have questioned the wisdom of directing so much capital towards the board's short-film schemes. In recent times, however, many of the film-makers who cut their teeth on smaller pictures have delivered noteworthy features. Last week, Anthony Byrne, director of the award-winning vignette, Meeting Che Guevara & the Man from Maybury Hill, saw his first feature, Short Order, open commercially in two Irish cinemas. On the 16th of this month, Studs, Paul Mercier's adaptation of his own play, will be seen on a staggering 50 screens. Mercier's first short, Before I Sleep, was made under the Short Cuts scheme for the Film Board and RTÉ. Short films are not just useful as filler for schedulers of late-night television; they act as calling cards for film-makers with ambitions to storm the enormo-plex.
At a more esoteric level, Six Shooter's success also helps highlight the way Irish cinema is becoming increasingly involved with immigrants and emigrants. Last week the Jameson Dublin International Film festival featured a swathe of films dealing with our new ethnic communities. On the surface Six Shooter, which takes place on a train trundling through dirty green countryside, couldn't seem more Irish.
But Martin McDonagh was born and raised in England, the son of Irish parents. The young director, also the author of such acclaimed plays as The Beauty Queen of Leenane, thus becomes another active player in the internationalisation of our film culture. Vive la différence!