Ireland was represented by

Cathal Dunne Cathal Dunne (born 1951) is an Irish singer. He is most famous for representing Ireland in the 1979 Eurovision Song Contest with the song " Happy Man". He has since gained a following as Cahal Dunne, performing traditional Irish songs in the Un ...

in the

Eurovision Song Contest 1979 The Eurovision Song Contest 1979 was the 24th edition of the annual Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Jerusalem, Israel, following the country's victory at the with the song "A-Ba-Ni-Bi" by Izhar Cohen and the Alphabeta. Organised by the ...

with the song "Happy Man".

Before Eurovision

National final

The final was held on 4 February 1979 and was broadcast on

RTÉ (RTÉ) (; Irish language, Irish for "Radio & Television of Ireland") is the Public broadcaster, national broadcaster of Republic of Ireland, Ireland headquartered in Dublin. It both produces and broadcasts programmes on RTÉ Television, telev ...

while being held in

Dublin, Ireland Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 cen ...

and hosted by

Mike Murphy Michael James Murphy (born 20 October 1941) is an Irish broadcaster, actor and property developer. He is best known for his long broadcasting career with RTÉ, presenting many TV shows such as ''The Live Mike'', '' Winning Streak'' and '' The Bi ...

. The winner, which was decided by 10 regional juries throughout

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

, was Cathal Dunne, who previously competed in the 1976 Irish National Final, but came 4th, losing out to Red Hurley who performed the song "When".

At Eurovision

Ireland performed 4th in the startfield and finished 5th with 80 points.

Voting

References

External links

Irish National Final 1979 - Geocities.com
*

Eurovision : Details : Ireland 1979 - ESC-History.com
{{Eurovision Song Contest 1979

1979 Events January * January 1 ** United Nations Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim heralds the start of the ''International Year of the Child''. Many musicians donate to the ''Music for UNICEF Concert'' fund, among them ABBA, who write the song ...

Countries in the Eurovision Song Contest 1979

Eurovision The Eurovision Song Contest (), sometimes abbreviated to ESC and often known simply as Eurovision, is an international songwriting competition organised annually by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), featuring participants representing pr ...