Ireland at the Eurovision Song Contest

Balance sheet

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Broadcasting company

First participation

1965

Number of participations

53 (as of 2019)

Highest ranking

1 ( 1970 , 1980 , 1987 , 1992 , 1993 , 1994 , 1996 )

Highest Score

226 (1994)

Lowest Score

5 ( 2007 , 2013 )

Points average (since first post)

71.21 (as of 2019)

Average points per voting country in the 12-point system

2.79 (as of 2019)

This article deals with the history of Ireland as a participant in the Eurovision Song Contest ( Irish Comórtas Amhrán Eoraifíse or Comórtas Amhránaíochta na hEoraifíse ).

Regularity of participation and successes in competition

Johnny Logan, here in 1980, is still the most successful representative of Ireland today

Ireland first entered the competition in 1965 and was also very successful the first few years. In its debut, the country achieved a good ranking with 6th place out of 18. In 1966 the placement was even surpassed with 4th place, before Seán Dunphy even reached 2nd place in 1967. Also in 1968 Ireland was able to secure another place in the top five with place 4. Another good placement followed in 1969 with 7th place. In 1970 Ireland's first major success followed in the competition. The singer Dana won the competition with her song All Kinds of Everything and thus got Ireland's first victory. In 1971, when the competition first took place in Ireland, the singer Angela Farrell only reached 11th place, making Ireland not among the top ten for the first time. In 1972 Ireland ended up only in 15th place out of 18, which was the worst result for the country in the competition until then. It was not until 1973 that the country was able to build on its previous successes.

In 1973, the singer Maxi reached Ireland's first place in the top ten in three years with 10th place. Ireland also achieved this ranking in 1976, while the country was 7th in 1974 and 9th in 1975. In 1977, The Swarbriggs plus Two reached 3rd place, the best ranking since 1970, and with 119 points even got a new high for the country. But Ireland was also successful in 1978 and 1979, finishing fifth in each case. In 1980, ten years after Ireland's first victory, Ireland was able to win the competition again. Johnny Logan won What's Another Year? First place and scored a new high for the country with 143 points. In 1981, when the competition took place in Ireland for the second time, the Sheeba group took fifth place, another good place for the country in the competition. All the more surprising came eleventh place in 1981, which ended Ireland's successful streak. After all, it was the worst result in nine years. In 1983 Ireland withdrew from the competition for financial reasons, but returned to the competition in 1984. From there on, the country had its most successful phase in the competition, which lasted until 2000.

In 1984 Ireland finally took second place on their return with Linda Martins Terminial 3 , which was written by Johnny Logan. 1985 and 1986 followed with 6th place and 4th place further placements within the top ten. In 1987 Ireland was very successful again, as Johnny Logan was able to win the competition again and thus brought Ireland's third victory. It was the first and so far only time in the competition that an artist could win the competition more than once. With 172 points, Logan was even able to top his own high score from 1980. In 1988, when Ireland hosted for the third time, the country finished eighth in the top ten. After all these successes, Ireland's worst place in the competition followed until then. Kiev Connolly & The Missing Passengers only took 18th place, so Ireland was all the more successful again in 1990 and took 2nd place in the competition for the third time. In 1991 another good ranking followed for the country with 10th place. In 1992 Ireland was very successful again and brought in Linda Martin and the song Why Me ?, written by Johnny Logan . the first place. It was Ireland's fourth win in the competition and the third win that Johnny Logan participated in. In 1993 Ireland hosted the Song Contest for the fourth time, while Niamh Kavanagh again won first place for Ireland with the song In Your Eyes , which was the fifth victory for the country. With 187 points she also got a new high score. Ireland also hosted the Song Contest in 1994 and again achieved first place with Paul Harrington & Charlie McGettigan and the song Rock'n'Roll Kids , which was Ireland's sixth victory and thus set two new records in the competition. Never before has a country won the competition three times in a row. To date, no country has been able to repeat this series of victories. In addition, Ireland was the country with the most victories up until then. With 226 points Paul Harrington & Charlie McGettigan even topped the new high number of points from the previous year. To date, Ireland has never again achieved such a high score in the competition, so the 226 points are Ireland's highest score to date. Ireland also hosted the competition in 1995, which Ireland set another record. No country has ever hosted three competitions in a row. However, in contrast to previous years, Ireland was not very successful in 1995, with 14th place, the worst position in six years. Participation in 1996 was all the more successful. In order to participate, however, Ireland had to go through the qualifying round of the EBU . With second place there, Ireland's participation was secured in 1996. And so Eimear Quinn took 1st place with the song The Voice in 1996 , which was Ireland's seventh win in the competition. This makes Ireland the country with the most victories to this day. Furthermore, no country has previously won the competition four times in a five-year period. So Ireland hosted the 1997 competition too, finishing in second place, making Ireland fourth second place. Ireland was also successful in 1998 and took 8th place, another place in the top ten. In 1999, however, the country only took 17th place, which was the worst ranking in ten years. In 2000, however, the country was successful again and took 6th place. From 2001, however, things then went steeply downhill for the country.

In 2001 Ireland was only in 21st place, which was Ireland's worst position in the competition to date. Due to the rules at the time, Ireland had to sit out in 2002, which is the first time since 1983 that Ireland was not represented in the final. The return in 2003 could not build on the previous successes, because Ireland just missed a place in the top ten with 11th place. In 2004 singer Chris Doran finished 22nd out of 24, which was another very poor performance for Ireland. This placement meant that Ireland had to take part in the 2005 semi-finals introduced in 2004 for the first time. However, Ireland could not qualify for the final and was eliminated for the first time in the semifinals. In the following year, Ireland first had to prove itself in the semi-finals, but was able to reach the final there with 9th place. With 10th place there, Ireland was able to build on its old successes for the first time and thus achieved the best placement for six years. It was all the worse in 2007 when Ireland did not have to compete in the semi-finals. The band Dervish ended up in last place in the final with only five points, which was Ireland's worst place in the competition until then and is still the lowest number of points Ireland has ever received. In 2008 and 2009 Ireland was eliminated in the semi-finals and continued its negative streak. It wasn't until 2010 that Ireland reached the final again.

In 2010 Ireland sent the 1993 winner Niamh Kavanagh, who took 9th place in the semi-finals and thus Ireland was represented in the final for the first time in three years. But even there the country was not very successful and only ended up in third from last place. In 2011, however, Ireland sent the twin duo Jedward, which also reached the final and took Ireland's best position in eleven years with 8th place. After this success, Jedward competed again in 2012. There they could not repeat their success and ended up in midfield in 19th place. In 2013 Ireland reached the final again, but ended up there, as in 2007, in last place with five points. Ireland's weakest phase in the competition began in 2014, so the country was eliminated in the semi-finals for the first time since 2009, as it only reached 12th place there. Also in 2015 this place was occupied in the semi-finals, so that Ireland was again not represented in the final. Ireland could not reach the final in 2016 and 2017 either. It wasn't until 2018 that the country reached the finals again, as singer Ryan O'Shaughnessy finished 6th in the semifinals. In the finals, his song Together landed in 16th place, Ireland's best result since 2011. After this small success, a new low in Irish history followed in 2019 at the Eurovision Song Contest. The singer Sarah McTernan landed with her song 22 in the last place in the semifinals and was also last in the overall result with 41 participants. This is Ireland's worst result in the competition so far.

A total of 30 of the 53 entries ended up in the left half of the table. In addition, the country has landed in last place twice so far. In addition, the country missed the final eight times. Nevertheless, with seven wins the country holds the record in the competition for the most victories, took second place four times and third place once. With many other placements within the top ten, Ireland is one of the most successful, despite the rather moderate successes since the 2000s Countries in competition.

List of posts

Color legend: - 1st place. - 2nd place. - 3rd place. - Equal points with last place. - Eliminated in the semifinals / in the qualification / in the Eastern European preliminary decision. - no participation / not qualified. - Cancellation of the Eurovision Song Contest.      

year	Interpreter	Title Music (M) and Text (T)	language	translation	final		Semi-final / qualification		National preliminary decision	Charts (IRL)
					space	Points	space	Points
1965	Butch Moore	Walking the Streets in the Rain M / T: Teresa Conlon, George Prendergast, Joe Harrigan	English	I walk the streets in the rain	6/18	11	Direct participation		National Song Contest 1965	1
1966	Dickie skirt	Come Back to Stay M / T: Rowland Soper	English	Come back to stay	4/18	14th			National Song Contest 1966	1
1967	Seán Dunphy	If I Could Choose M: Michael Coffey; T: Wesley Burrowes	English	If I had the choice	2/17	22nd			National Song Contest 1967	2
1968	Pat McGeegan	Chance of a Lifetime M / T: John Kennedy	English	Chance of life	4/17	18th			National Song Contest 1968	1
1969	Muriel Day	The Wages of Love M / T: Michael Reade	English	The reward of love	7/16	10			National Song Contest 1969	2
1970	Dana	All Kinds of Everything M / T: Derry Lindsay, Jackie Smith	English	Everything imaginable	1  /12	32			National Song Contest 1970	1
1971	Angela Farrell	One Day Love M / T: Donald Martin, Ita Flynn	English	One day love	11/18	79			National Song Contest 1971	4th
1972	Sandie Jones	Ceol an ghrá M: Joe Burkett; T: Liam MacUistín	Irish	Music of love	15/18	72			National Song Contest 1972	1
1973	Maxi	Do I Dream? M / T: Jack Brierlev, George F. Crosbie	English	Am I dreaming?	10/17	80			National Song Contest 1973	7th
1974	Tina Reynolds	Cross Your Heart M / T: Paul Lyttle	English	Hand on heart	7/17	11			National Song Contest 1974	1
1975	The Swarbriggs	That's What Friends Are For M / T: Tommy Swarbrigg, Jimmy Swarbrigg	English	That's what friends are for	9/19	68			National Song Contest 1975	2
1976	Red Hurley	When M / T: Brendan J. Graham	English	If	10/18	54			National Song Contest 1976	4th
1977	The Swarbriggs plus Two	It's Nice to Be in Love Again M / T: Tommy Swarbrigg, Jimmy Swarbrigg	English	It's nice to be in love again	3/18	119			National Song Contest 1977	1
1978	Colm CT Wilkinson	Born to Sing M / T: Colm CT Wilkinson	English	Born to sing	5/20	86			National Song Contest 1978	8th
1979	Cathal Dunne	Happy Man M / T: Cathal Dunne	English	Lucky man	5/19	80			National Song Contest 1979	3
1980	Johnny Logan	What's Another Year? M / T: Shay Healy	English	What's another year?	1  /19	143			National Song Contest 1980	1
1981	Sheeba	Horoscopes M: Jim Kelly; T: Joe Burkett	English	Horoscopes	5/20	105			National Song Contest 1981	3
1982	The Duskeys	Here Today, Gone Tomorrow M / T: Sally Keating	English	Here today, away tomorrow	11/18	49			National Song Contest 1982	12
1983	No participation
1984	Linda Martin	Terminal 3 M / T: Johnny Logan	English	Terminal 3	2/19	137	Direct participation		National Song Contest 1984	7th
1985	Maria Christian	Wait Until the Weekend Comes M / T: Brendan J. Graham	English	Wait for the weekend	6/19	91			National Song Contest 1985	15th
1986	Windward bow	You Can Count on Me M / T: Kevin Sheerin	English	You can count on me	4/20	96			National Song Contest 1986	2
1987	Johnny Logan	Hold Me Now M / T: Johnny Logan	English	Hold me tight now	1  / 22nd	172			Eurosong 1987	1
1988	Jump the gun	Take Him Home M / T: Peter Eades	English	Take him home	8/21	79			Eurosong 1988	3
1989	Kiev Connolly & The Missing Passengers	The Real Me M / T: Kiev Connolly	English	The true me	18/22	21st			Eurosong 1989	17th
1990	Liam Reilly	Somewhere in Europe M / T: Liam Reilly	English	Somewhere in Europe	2/22	132			Eurosong 1990	6th
1991	Kim Jackson	Could It Be That I'm in Love? M / T: Liam Reilly	English	Could it be that I'm in love?	10/22	47			Eurosong 1991	7th
1992	Linda Martin	Why Me? M / T: Johnny Logan	English	Why me?	1  /23	155			Eurosong 1992	1
1993	Niamh Kavanagh	In Your Eyes M / T: Jimmy Walsh	English	In your eyes	1  / 25th	187			Eurosong 1993	1
1994	Paul Harrington & Charlie McGettigan	Rock'n'Roll Kids M / T: Brendan J. Graham	English	Rock'n'Roll children	1  / 25th	226	Qualified directly for the final		Eurosong 1994	2
1995	Eddie Friel	Dreamin ' M / T: Richard Abbot, Barry Woods	English	dream	14/23	44			Eurosong 1995	5
1996	Eimear Quinn	The Voice M / T: Brendan J. Graham	English	The voice	1  /23	162	2/29	198	Eurosong 1996	3
1997	Marc Roberts	Mysterious Woman M / T: John Farry	English	Mysterious woman	2/25	157	Qualified directly for the final		Eurosong 1997	2
1998	Dawn Martin	Is Always Over Now? M / T: Gerry Morgan	English	Is 'forever' over now?	9/25	64			Eurosong 1998	24
1999	The Mullans	When You Need Me M / T: Bronagh Mullan	English	When you need me	17/23	18th			Eurosong 1999	-
2000	Eamonn Toal	Millennium of Love M: Gerry Simpson; T: Raymond J. Smyth	English	Millennium of love	6/24	92			Eurosong 2000	-
2001	Gary O'Shaughnessy	Without Your Love M / T: Pat Sheridan	English	Without your love	21/23	6th			Eurosong 2001	-
2002	Not qualified
2003	Mickey Joe Harte	We've Got the World Tonight M / T: Martin Brannigan, Keith Molloy	English	Tonight we own the world	11/23	53	Qualified directly for the final		You're a Star 2003	1
2004	Chris Doran	If My World Stopped Turning M: Bryan McFadden; T: Jonathan Shorten	English	When my world stopped spinning	22/24	7th			You're a Star 2004	1
2005	Donna & Joe	Love? M / T: Karl Broderick	English	Love?	Eliminated		14/25	53	You're a Star 2005	2
2006	Brian Kennedy	Every Song Is a Cry for Love M / T: Brian Kennedy	English	Every song is a cry for love	10/24	93	9/23	76	The Late Late Show 2006	4th
2007	Dervish	They Can't Stop the Spring M / T: John Waters, Tommy Moran	English	You can't stop spring	24/24	5	Qualified directly for the final		The Late Late Show 2007	-
2008	Dustin the Turkey	Irelande Douze Pointe M: Darren Smith, Simon Fine; T: D. Smith, S. Fine	English, French	Ireland twelve points	Eliminated		15/19	23	Eurosong 2008	5
2009	Sinéad Mulvey & Black Daisy	Et Cetera M / T: Niall Mooney, Jonas Gladnikoff, Daniele Moretti, Christina Schilling	English	And so on	Eliminated		11/19	52	Eurosong 2009	6th
2010	Niamh Kavanagh	It's for You M: Niall Mooney, Mårten Eriksson, Jonas Gladnikoff; T: Lina Eriksson	English	It's for you	23/25	25th	9/17	67	Eurosong 2010	8th
2011	Jedward	Lipstick M / T: Dan Priddy, Lars Jensen, Martin Larson	English	lipstick	8/25	119	8/19	68	Eurosong 2011	1
2012	Jedward	Waterline M: Nick Jarl, Sharon Vaughn; T: Nick Jarl	English	Waterline	19/26	46	6/18	92	Eurosong 2012	5
2013	Ryan Dolan	Only Love Survives M / T: Wez Devine, Ryan Dolan	English	Only love survives	26/26	5	8/16	54	Eurosong 2013	13
2014	Can-Linn feat. Kasey Smith	Heartbeat M / T: Hazel Kaneswaran, Jonas Gladnikoff, Rasmus Palmgren, Patrizia Helande	English	Heartbeat	Eliminated		12/15	35	Eurosong 2014	41
2015	Molly Sterling	Playing with Numbers M / T: Molly Sterling, Greg French	English	Playing with numbers	Eliminated		12/17	35	Eurosong 2015	77
2016	Nicky Byrne	Sunlight M: Ronan Hardiman; T: Wayne Hector, Nicky Byrne	English	sunlight	Eliminated		15/18	46	internal selection	68
2017	Brendan Murray	Dying to Try M / T: Jörgen Elofsson	English	Burning to try	Eliminated		13/18	86	internal selection	-
2018	Ryan O'Shaughnessy	Together M / T: Ryan O'Shaughnessy, Mark Caplice, Laura Elizabeth Hughes	English	Together	16/26	136	6/19	179	internal selection	17th
2019	Sarah McTernan	22 M / T: Janieck van de Polder, Marcia Sondeijker, Roel Rats	English	-	Eliminated		18/18	16	internal selection	-
2020	Lesley Roy	Story of My Life M / T: Lesley Roy , Robert Marvin, Catt Gravitt, Tom Shapiro	English	story of my life	Cancellation due to the COVID-19 pandemic by the EBU				internal selection
2021

National preliminary decisions

Main article: Irish qualifications for the Eurovision Song Contest

Until 2015, all Irish representatives were elected in a national preliminary decision. From 1965 to 1986, with the exception of 1983 when Ireland did not participate, the National Song Contest was held every year . From 1987 to 2001 the Eurosong was used to determine the Irish representative. From 2003 to 2005, the casting show You're a Star was used to determine the Irish representative. In 2006 and 2007 the representatives were selected internally and each presented a few titles on the Late Late Show . From 2008 to 2015 the Eurosong took place again. Since 2016, the Irish broadcaster has been selecting its representatives and their songs internally.

languages

Most of the Irish contributions were presented entirely in English. Ceol an ghrá , the contribution to the Eurovision Song Contest 1972 , was sung in Irish (Gaelic). In 2008, most of the Irish contribution was made in English, but included words from several other European languages.

In the case of competitions organized in Ireland, a few words were always said in Irish during the moderation - usually as a greeting - and occasionally when the country points were transmitted.

Commercial success

National

Many Irish contributions became a hit in Ireland: a total of 13 songs reached first place in the charts, 20 more reached the top 10. By 1999 all contributions reached the singles charts, by 1982 they all landed in the top 10. The first five Irish winning titles were Number one hits (including the most successful single of the year in 1993; Rock'n'Roll Kids and The Voice were a little less successful with second and third place). From 1999 onwards, the commercial success decreased significantly; only since 2003, when the Irish representative in the casting show You're a Star was determined, hits could be achieved again. The group Dervish could not place themselves in the charts with They Can't Stop the Spring 2007, their song was also not released as a single, but only as a free online download.

International

Both Dana with All Kinds of Everything and Johnny Logan with his two winning titles were very successful across Europe, the singles are almost everywhere in the charts and in some countries also at number one. The later four winners were far less commercially successful and only hit the charts in very few countries.

Competitions held

Ireland hosted the competition after each win, a total of seven times, making it the second most common host after Great Britain . In six cases, the event took place in Dublin , making the city the most frequent venue in the history of the competition; In 1993 the rather unknown village of Millstreet was chosen, which is still the smallest venue of all time with 1,500 inhabitants.

year	city	venue	Moderation
1971	Dublin	Gaiety Theater	Bernadette Ní Ghallchóir
1981		Simmonscourt Pavilion	Doireann Ni Bhriain
1988			Pat Kenny & Michelle Rocca
1993	Millstreet	Green Glens Arena	Fionnuala Sweeney
1994	Dublin	Point Theater	Cynthia Ní Mhurchú & Gerry Ryan
1995			Mary Kennedy
1997			Ronan Keating & Carrie Crowley

Scoring

The following countries received the most points from or awarded the most points to Ireland (as of 2019):

Most of the points awarded in the final space country Points 1  United Kingdom 252 2  Sweden 195 3  Germany 168 4th  Norway 164 5  France 146

Most in the final received points space country Points 1  United Kingdom 253 2  Sweden 227 3  Switzerland 182 4th  Austria 172 5  Norway 170

Most of the points awarded space country Points 1  United Kingdom 252 2  Sweden 243 3  Norway 228 4th  Netherlands 199 5  Denmark 195

Most total obtained points space country Points 1  United Kingdom 325 2  Sweden 244 3  Switzerland 217 4th  Austria 214 5  Belgium 208

Award of the highest rating

Since 1975 Ireland has given the maximum number of points to 23 different countries, including Sweden six times. In the semi-finals, on the other hand, Ireland gave the maximum number of points to eleven different countries, including seven times to Lithuania.

Highest rating (final) year country Place (final) 1975  France 4th 1976  Italy 7th 1977  Finland 10 1978  Belgium 2 1979  Israel 1 1980  Switzerland 4th 1981  Switzerland 4th 1982  Germany 1 1983 No participation 1984  Sweden 1 1985  Norway 1 1986  Belgium 1 1987  Italy 3 1988  Luxembourg 4th 1989  Yugoslavia 1 1990  Italy 1 1991  Malta 6th 1992  Austria 10 1993  Netherlands 6th 1994  Hungary 4th 1995  Sweden 3 1996  Sweden 3 1997  United Kingdom 1 1998  Malta 3 1999  Slovenia 11 2000  Denmark 1 2001  Denmark 2 2002 Not qualified 2003  Norway 4th 2004  Sweden 6th 2005  Latvia 5 2006  Lithuania 6th 2007  Lithuania 21st 2008  Latvia 12 2009  Iceland 2 2010  Denmark 4th 2011  Denmark 5 2012  Sweden 1 2013  Denmark 1 2014  Austria 1 2015  Latvia 6th 2016  Belgium (J) 10  Lithuania (T) 9 2017  Belgium (J) 4th  Romania (T) 7th 2018  Cyprus (J) 2  Lithuania (T) 12 2019  Sweden (J) 5  Norway (T) 6th 2020 Competition canceled

Highest rating (semi-finals) year country Place (semifinals) 2004  Netherlands 6th 2005  Denmark 3 2006  Lithuania 5 2007  Latvia 5 2008  Poland 10 2009  Lithuania 9 2010  Lithuania 12 2011  Denmark 2 2012  Romania 3 2013  Denmark 1 2014  Austria 1 2015  Latvia 2 2016  Belgium (J) 3  Lithuania (T) 4th 2017  Bulgaria (J) 1  Lithuania (T) 17th 2018  Cyprus (J) 2  Lithuania (T) 9 2019  Sweden (J) 3  Lithuania (T) 11 2020 Competition canceled

various

• At the 1994 Song Contest in Dublin, the dance formation Riverdance appeared as a pause number before scoring. This first appearance in front of a large audience was the starting signal for the subsequent worldwide success of Riverdance.
• In 1999 Ireland took the lead after the first scoring - twelve points from Lithuania  - but ended up only in 17th place with a total of 18 points.
• Brian Kennedy's song Every Song Is a Cry for Love (ESC Athens 2006) was the 1,000th. Contribution to the history of the Eurovision Song Contest.
• Kennedy himself had already worked as a singer on the break number in 1995, when the competition was broadcast from Dublin.
• In 2007 Ireland came last with 5 points for the first time. This was repeated in 2013.
• In 2008 Ireland was represented by a doll , Dustin the Turkey . It was the first time that a doll represented a country in the Eurovision Song Contest .
• Ireland was the first country to win the ESC with over 200 points.

Impressions

• 

  Butch Moore 1965

• 

  Dana 1970

• 

  Red Hurley 1976

• 

  Dervish 2007

• 

  Dustin the Turkey 2008

• 

  Niamh Kavanagh 2010

• 

  Jedward 2011

• 

  Ryan Dolan 2013

• 

  Kasey Smith 2014

• 

  Molly Sterlin 2015

• 

  Nicky Byrne 2016

• 

  Brendan Murray 2017

• 

  Ryan O'Shaughnessy 2018

• 

  Sarah McTernan 2019

Individual evidence

1. ↑ irishcharts.ie
2. ↑ ^{a b} keithm.utvinternet.ie ( Memento of the original from August 18, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.