Ronan and Day-Lewis nominated for Oscars

Irish actors Saoirse Ronan and Daniel Day-Lewis have been nominated for Osacrs for their roles in Atonementand There Will Be Blood.

The nominations for the 80th Academy Awards were announced by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences today at the Samuel Goldwyn Theatre in Hollywood, under the shadow of the screenwriters' strike in the United States.

Saoirse Ronan

The film Atonement,which is based on Ian McEwan's novel, has been nominated for seven awards, including Best Picture.

Carlow actor Ronan (13) is among the nominations for Best Supporting Actress for her role in Atonement.She picked up the Best Film gong in the Golden Globe awards this year.

Day-Lewis's portrayal as a pioneering California oilman in There Will Be Bloodhas earned him a nomination for Best Actor. He won a Golden Globe for the performance last week.

Ronan and Daniel were recently among the nominees for the British Academy Film Awards (Baftas).

Cinematographer Seamus McGarvey from Armagh is up for best cinematography for Atonement, having worked in the past with Oliver Stone, Stephen Frears and Conor McPherson.

Day-Lewis is up against Michael Claytonstar George Clooney, Johnny Depp for Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, Tommy Lee Jones for In the Valley of Elahand Viggo Mortensen for Eastern Promises.

In the Best Original Song category, the nominations include "Falling Slowly" from Irish film Once. The song was written by Frames frontman Glen Hansard and his co-star in the romance, Markéta Irglová.

Kings,the first Irish-language film to be entered in the Best Foreign Language Film category, was not among the nominees.

The Best Picture category will be fought out between Atonement, There Will Be Blood, No Country For Old Men, Michael Claytonand quirky teen pregnancy comedy Juno.

In total, There Will Be Bloodwas nominated in eight categories, the same number as No Country for Old Men.  Michael Claytonpicked up seven nominations, the animated hit Ratatouilleearned five nominations, while Junoand the French-language drama The Diving Bell and the Butterflyscored four each.

The directors of No Country For Old Men, There Will Be Blood, Juno, Michael Claytonand The Diving Bell and the Butterflywere also nominated.

Australian actress Cate Blanchett received two nominations - for her lead role in Elizabeth: The Golden Ageand for her supporting role as Bob Dylan in I'm Not There.

The other contenders for Best Actress were British veteran Julie Christie for Away From Her, French actress Marion Cotillard for La Vie en Rose, Laura Linney for The Savagesand Canadian actress Ellen Page for Juno.

It is still uncertain whether the traditional Oscar ceremony will go ahead on February 24th, however, due to the writers' strike.

The Writers' Guild of America is expected to sit down with studio bosses this week in an attempt to thrash out a deal on the copyright issues and rights payments that are at the core of the 12-week dispute.

Additional reporting: Agencies