I was very proud of my fellow countryman Cillian Murphy last night, when he won the Oscar for Best Actor at the Academy Awards in Los Angeles - Cillian is the first ever Irish-born man to achieve this feat. I can't even imagine how proud the people of Cork are of him, and also the people of Corca Dhuibhne, where his family has a holiday home.

The film Oppenheimer won seven of the 13 awards it was nominated for! Christopher Nolan received two awards, one for Best Director and the other for Best Film. Robert Downey Jr. received award for Best Supporting Actor. There is no doubt about the alliance between Cillian and Chris Nolan, as they have worked together many times over the years. They started working together on the film 'Batman Begins' in 2005, and continued with a series of successful films: 'The Dark Knight' (2008), 'Inception' (2010), 'The Dark Knight Rises' ( 2012), 'Dunkirk' (2017) and 'Oppenheimer' (2023). Cillian landed the lead role in Oppenheimer, and Chris Nolan is said to have asked him to take the role, after seeing Cillian in the TV series 'Peaky Blinders'.

There was intense competition between the actors who were nominated for the Best Male Actor award. Bradley Cooper, Colman Domingo, Paul Giamatti and Jeffrey Wright were also nominated for that award, with leading roles in the films 'Maestro', 'Rustin', 'The Holdovers' and 'American Fiction', respectively. But Cillian was the favourite from the start, and he easily fulfilled that prophecy!

Oscar acceptance speech

'Oppenheimer' is not my favorite film, in particular because of the story and plot. But I have to admit that it is a great piece of cinematography. To be fair, the film deserved every award. And Cillian's acceptance speech really impressed me – more than the film itself!

He said: " I’m a little overwhelmed. Thank you to the Academy. Chris Nolan and Emma Thomas, it’s been the wildest, most exhilarating, most creatively, satisfying journey you’ve taken me on over the last 20 years. I owe you more than I can say, thank you so much. Every single crew member, every single cast member on Oppenheimer you guys carried me through. All my fellow nominees, I remain in awe of you guys, truly. "I want to thank my incredible team. Big shout out to Craig Bankey, Brendan Murphy, Mary Murphy, Yvonne McGuinness, my partner in life and art, my two boys Malachy and Aran who are sitting up there, I love you so much and I’m a very proud Irishman standing here tonight. "You know, we made a film about the man who created the atomic bomb and for better or for worse we’re all living in Oppenheimer’s world, so I’d really like to dedicate this to the peacemakers everywhere. Go raibh míle maith agaibh."

Cúpla Focal

Isn't that a great speech? I think every Irishman in the world was very proud of Cillian, not only because of the Oscar he won, but because of that beautiful speech he gave with confidence. It has long been a habit of British presenters to say that successful Irish people who win awards are British - Irish people like Paul Mescal, Michael Fassbinder and of course, Cillian Murphy. As usual, it happened again on ITV when Jonathan Ross referred to Cillian as a British star. But after Cillian's speech, Ross had to apologize and admit that Cillian is Irish. Irish people don't let things like that happen anymore, I think! As Breandán Ó Murchú, Cillian's father, said about his son, on the show 'An Saol Ó Dheas' with the famous presenter Helen Ní Shé: "He probably has confidence in himself. I don't think he has to pretend. He can speak confidently, which used not be common either. We were different, I guess. We thought, for example, a long time ago, if people had a different accent - the English when they came for example - we thought that there was something special about that, that they were better than us.

But the Irish now, the young people, they're happy to get out there and speak out confidently and they're all doing it and that's a very good thing."

It is also noteworthy that Cillian spoke a few important words at the end of his speech, when he said, in Irish: "Thank you very much!" That topped off a great night for all of us, on possibly the biggest stage in the world! I have no second choice now, but to write these last words: Go raibh míle maith agat, a Chillian!

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The more things change the more they stay the same, or as they say in French: "Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose!" Although that statement is true in the sense that human nature does not change, it is not true in the way that changes are happening now that have never been seen before. Exceptional crises are underway now and we cannot take the chance of failing to find solutions to them. For example, global warming is taking place, due to atmospheric pollution, and we can no longer ignore that problem. Often, changes, both good and bad, start in one place, and then spread to other places. Global warming started primarily in the United States with the proliferation of cars, and then as other countries became richer, they followed suit.

In the article I wrote last week, I toured back memory lane, remembering a few criticisms that my mother expressed to me on her first trip to California. She was absolutely right about the problems she focused my attention on, and her keen insight has stayed with me ever since. The amazing thing about that is that most of the same problems happened in Ireland later, starting in the reign of the Celtic Tiger and continuing to the present day. I well remember the bar man in "Tynan's Bridge House Bar" - he may have been the owner- telling me when he heard I was living in California, "We only take the good stuff from the United States, son!” I didn't have a sharp answer on the tip of my tongue, but now I have the answer. "Keep dreaming, son!" If I were to meet that guy again, I would have a lot to say to him and I would recommend he read this article! Anyway, here are a few examples of the problems that I first saw in America, but which can be seen in Ireland today.

Housing Crisis:

As strange as it may seem, it is true that there are certain problems that become worse when countries become richer. The housing crisis is one of them. When countries become richer, house prices increase. Between 1996 and 2006, prices in Ireland quadrupled! The country was then divided between the rich and the poor, on the basis of home ownership. Buying a new home has not been easy for people and especially first time buyers. Sometimes, they could not afford to buy a house at all, and therefore, they were left homeless and had to sleep on the streets.

Poverty and Immigration

Up until the time of the Celtic Tiger, the Irish used to migrate in waves with every bad economic recession in the country. Not many wanted to come into the country. Things changed completely with the arrival of the Tiger, and the waves began to move in the other direction – into the country, including refugees and asylum seekers, many of whom were destined to spend years in Direct Provision Centres. Many people also landed from other countries in the European Union, looking for work. Those numbers put a lot of pressure on the country's infrastructure, which wasn't very good in the first place. Housing matters became worse, and the Health Service Executive was also under additional pressure.

Health Care

Everyone knows that the Health Services Executive (HSE) has big problems. It is a shame that the hospitals are always overcrowded and have been so for a long time, with no viable solution yet in sight. A few months ago, there were around 85,000 people waiting for inpatient beds and almost 500,000 people waiting for an appointment at the outpatient clinic!

Drug Epidemic

Everyone has seen the headline recently: "Cocaine worth €157 million in 'biggest drug bust in state history'". The drugs came from cartels in South America and organized crime gangs from Ireland and Britain came together to share and distribute the drugs, some of them in Ireland. There is a big cocaine problem in Ireland now - even in the Gaeltacht. This is a headline in a recent tuairisc.ie article: "50-year-old man arrested and €105,000 worth of cocaine found by Gardaí". Those are just a few examples, but without a doubt people have the money to buy the cocaine, and this problem is not only in the cities, but throughout the country.

Violence and Guns

Compared to the United States, there is not a big problem with guns or violence. But it is necessary to keep a close eye on it, because the murder rate doubled last year.

Conclusion

I think certain problems arise in rich countries. There are still those who deny that we are a rich country, but I read in 'Forbes Magazine' recently that Ireland is the richest country per person, in the world! The United States is only in 9th place!!!

Unfortunately, to my knowledge, our government has not done much for a long time to address the above mentioned problems. But big changes are coming in the political sphere and Mary Lou McDonald and Sinn Féin are well-positioned coming into the next general election. If they are elected, they may be able to take a step forward, in terms of those big problems. Failing that, one day guns will be readily available in this country too!

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