Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel, the Irish Sea, and St George's Channel. Ireland is the s ...

has participated in the

Eurovision Song Contest 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 ...

55 times since making its debut at the contest in

Naples Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adm ...

, missing only two contests since then ( and ). The contest final is broadcast in Ireland on

RTÉ One RTÉ One ( ga, RTÉ a hAon) is an Irish free-to-air flagship television channel owned and operated by Raidió Teilifís Éireann (RTÉ). It is the most-popular and most-watched television channel in the country and was launched as ''Telefís ...

. Ireland has a record total of seven wins, and is the only country to have won three times consecutively. Ireland's seven wins were achieved by Dana with " All Kinds of Everything" (), Johnny Logan with "

What's Another Year "What's Another Year" was Irish singer and composer Johnny Logan's first Eurovision Song Contest winning song, achieving success in the 1980 edition of the contest, as well as 's second Eurovision victory. Composed by Shay Healy (who also wro ...

" () and " Hold Me Now" (),

Linda Martin Linda Martin (born 27 March 1952) is an Irish singer and television presenter. She is best known as the winner of the 1992 Eurovision Song Contest during which she represented Ireland with the song " Why Me?". She is also known within Irelan ...

with " Why Me" (), Niamh Kavanagh with "

In Your Eyes IN, In or in may refer to: Places * India (country code IN) * Indiana, United States (postal code IN) * Ingolstadt, Germany (license plate code IN) * In, Russia, a town in the Jewish Autonomous Oblast Businesses and organizations * Independ ...

" (), Paul Harrington and

Charlie McGettigan Charles Joseph McGettigan (born 7 December 1950, Ballyshannon, County Donegal) is an Irish singer. He lives in Drumshanbo, Co. Leitrim. Career Performing with Paul Harrington, he won the Eurovision Song Contest 1994 with the song " Rock 'n ...

with "

Rock 'n' Roll Kids "Rock 'n' Roll Kids" is a song by Paul Harrington and Charlie McGettigan that was the winning song of the Eurovision Song Contest 1994, written by Brendan Graham and performed for . The song was Ireland's sixth overall victory, and represented a ...

" () and Eimear Quinn with " The Voice" (). Johnny Logan is the only performer to have won twice and also wrote the 1992 winning entry. Ireland, who also finished second with Sean Dunphy (), Linda Martin (),

Liam Reilly Liam Reilly (29 January 1955 – 1 January 2021) was an Irish singer-songwriter and a member of the group Bagatelle, formed in 1978 by drummer Walter (Wally) McConville along with bass player Ken Doyle and guitarist John O’Brien. Career In 1 ...

() and Marc Roberts (), has a total of 18 top five results. Since the introduction of the qualifying round in , Ireland has won the contest twice. Since the introduction of the semi-final round in , Ireland has failed to reach the final ten times, and has twice finished last in the final, in and . Ireland's only top 10 result in the last 15 contests (2007–22) is Jedward's eighth-place in .

History

Raidió Teilifís Éireann (RTÉ) is Ireland's representative broadcaster at the contest. The semi-finals are broadcast on RTÉ2, with the final on

. Ireland has sent 50 entries to the Eurovision Song Contest; of these, seven have won and eighteen have finished in the top five, making Ireland the most successful country in the contest overall as of 2021. Since its debut in , the country has missed only two contests: the in

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the third-largest city in Germany, after Berlin and ...

and the in

Tallinn Tallinn () is the most populous and capital city of Estonia. Situated on a bay in north Estonia, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland of the Baltic Sea, Tallinn has a population of 437,811 (as of 2022) and administratively lies in the Harju '' ...

. A strike at

RTÉ (RTÉ) (; Irish for "Radio & Television of Ireland") is the national broadcaster of Ireland headquartered in Dublin. It both produces and broadcasts programmes on television, radio and online. The radio service began on 1 January 1926, whil ...

in 1983 meant that the station lacked the resources to send a participant, so RTÉ broadcast the contest with the BBC commentary feed. Ireland was relegated in 2002, but in keeping with EBU rules since they intended to return in 2003, RTÉ broadcast that year's event and a TV commentator was sent to the contest in Tallinn. Ireland have hosted the contest on seven occasions; all were held in the Irish capital

Dublin 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 ...

except for the , which was staged in Millstreet, a town in north-west

County Cork County Cork ( ga, Contae Chorcaí) is the largest and the southernmost county of Ireland, named after the city of Cork, the state's second-largest city. It is in the province of Munster and the Southern Region. Its largest market towns a ...

with a population of 1,500 people. All of Ireland's entries have been performed in English with the exception of the entry, " Ceol an Ghrá", which was sung in Irish. Seán Dunphy finished second at the , behind Sandie Shaw, followed by

Pat McGeegan Patrick (Pat) McGuigan (10 February 1935 – 27 June 1987) was an Irish singer born in Clones, County Monaghan. McGuigan, who spelled his name McGeegan for the stage, first came to prominence in Ireland when his single with the Big Four reached ...

finishing fourth in , before Dana gave Ireland its first victory in with " All Kinds of Everything". The country's next best result of the 1970s was in , when The Swarbriggs Plus Two finished third. This was followed by fifth-place finishes for both Colm C.T. Wilkinson () and

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 U ...

().

Johnny Logan brought Ireland its second victory in with "

". Girl Group

Sheeba Sheeba were an all-girl pop trio popular in Ireland in the late 1970s and early 1980s. They were Maxi, Marion Fossett and Frances Campbell. They are best known for representing the host nation, Ireland, in the Eurovision Song Contest in 1981 ...

then finished fifth in . Logan went on to write the entry " Terminal 3", performed by

, which finished second. In , Logan returned to the context as a performer, and became the first and (to date) only entrant to win the contest twice, achieving his second victory with the self-penned " Hold Me Now". Ireland's most successful decade to date in the contest is the 1990s, beginning with

finishing joint second in . Ireland subsequently achieved an unequalled three consecutive victories in the contest: in , the 1984 runner-up Linda Martin returned to win with " Why Me?"penned once again by Johnny Logan, giving him a total of three victories as either a performer or writer; in , Niamh Kavanagh was victorious over the 's Sonia with "

"; and in , Paul Harrington and

won with "

". The streak was broken in when Hiberno-Nordic group Secret Garden, representing Norway, won with the almost entirely instrumental "Nocturn". The group does contain an Irish member, Naas-born

Fionnuala Sherry Fionnuala Sherry (born 20 September 1962) is an Irish violinist and vocalist. Together with Norwegian musician Rolf Løvland, she makes up the Celtic-Nordic group Secret Garden, which won the Eurovision Song Contest 1995 with the predominantly ...

. The decade would see yet another victory for Ireland in when Eimear Quinn won with " The Voice"; Marc Roberts would also finish second for Ireland in , which marked the end of Irish domination of the contest. In the 21st century, Ireland has fared less well, achieving considerably poorer results in comparison to the 1990s. The country's only top 10 placement of the 2000s came when Brian Kennedy finished tenth in . At the , Ireland's representatives were Irish folk group Dervish performing "

They Can't Stop The Spring Ireland participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2007 with the song "They Can't Stop the Spring" written by John Waters and Tommy Moran. The song was performed by the band Dervish, which was internally selected in November 2006 by the Irish b ...

"; having automatically qualified for the final, the group finished last with five points (all from

Albania Albania ( ; sq, Shqipëri or ), or , also or . officially the Republic of Albania ( sq, Republika e Shqipërisë), is a country in Southeastern Europe. It is located on the Adriatic and Ionian Seas within the Mediterranean Sea and share ...

), becoming the first Irish entrants to come last in a final. In ,

Dustin the Turkey Dustin the Turkey, a character performed by John Morrison is a former star of RTÉ television's '' The Den'' between 1989 and 2010 and from 2020. He has been described as "the most subversive comedy force on Irish television". A turkey-vulture ...

failed to qualify for the final with his song "

Irelande Douze Pointe "Irelande Douze Pointe" () is a 2008 novelty song by Irish puppet act Dustin the Turkey, played by John Morrison. The song was chosen to represent Ireland in the Eurovision Song Contest 2008 after winning ''Eurosong 2008'', Ireland's nationa ...

"; the same fate befell Sinéad Mulvey and

Black Daisy Black Daisy was an Irish- Lithuanian band that, along with Sinéad Mulvey represented Ireland at the Eurovision Song Contest 2009 with the song Et Cetera. Biography The band originated from Dublin, and was formed by Steff Caffrey (lead guit ...

in . In , Ireland's luck changed when '' X Factor'' finalists Jedward finished in eighth place with 119 points, thus making them Ireland's most successful entry in 10 years. Their song "

Lipstick Lipstick is a cosmetic product used to apply coloration and texture to lips, often made of wax and oil. Different pigments are used to produce color, and minerals such as silica may be used to provide texture. The use of lipstick dates bac ...

" topped the

iTunes iTunes () is a software program that acts as a media player, media library, mobile device management utility, and the client app for the iTunes Store. Developed by Apple Inc., it is used to purchase, play, download, and organize digital mu ...

charts in Austria, Germany, Ireland and Sweden. Jedward represented Ireland again in with "

Waterline The waterline is the line where the hull of a ship meets the surface of the water. Specifically, it is also the name of a special marking, also known as an international load line, Plimsoll line and water line (positioned amidships), that indi ...

", but after making it through to the final, they were awarded only 46 points, finishing in 19th place. In , Ireland came last in the final for the second time. In 2018, Ireland qualified for the final for the first time since 2013 with Ryan O'Shaughnessy and " Together", but in , Sarah McTernan finished last in the second semi-final with " 22". Since her song received fewer points than the worst-scoring song of the first semi-final, it therefore came last overall, making it the worst placing for Ireland to date. Following the cancellation of the , Lesley Roy, who was due to compete with " Story of My Life", was re-selected to compete in with " Maps". She also finished last in the first semi-final, however did not come last overall. saw another non-qualification in

Brooke Brooke may refer to: People * Brooke (given name) * Brooke (surname) * Brooke baronets, families of baronets with the surname Brooke Places * Brooke, Norfolk, England * Brooke, Rutland, England * Brooke, Virginia, US * Brooke's Point, Palawan ...

with " That's Rich", finishing 15th out of 18 countries in the second semi-final. Seven singers have represented Ireland more than once at the contest: Johnny Logan (, ),

(, ), Niamh Kavanagh (, ), Tommy and Jimmy Swarbrigg (as "The Swarbriggs" in and part of "The Swarbriggs Plus Two" in ), Maxi (as a soloist in and as part of

in ) and Jedward in and . Eight people have written and composed more than one Irish entry:

Brendan Graham Brendan Graham (born 1945) is an Irish songwriter and novelist. Among songs he has written are "Rock 'n' Roll Kids" (1994) and " The Voice" (1996), both of which won the Eurovision Song Contest for Ireland in their respective years, and "You Ra ...

(1976, 1985, 1994, 1996), Johnny Logan (1984, 1987, 1992), Tommy and Jimmy Swarbrigg (1975, 1977), Liam Reilly (1990, 1991), Joe Burkett (composer 1972, lyricist 1981), and Niall Mooney &

Jonas Gladnikoff Jonas Gladnikoff (born 11 January 1985) is a Swedish songwriter and music producer. Born in Täby, he began songwriting at an early age. Later in life he moved to Åland in Finland before eventually moving to Stockholm. He has written several so ...

(2009, 2010). In the years when the live orchestra was present in the contest, almost all of Ireland's Eurovision entries were conducted by Noel Kelehan. The exceptions were 1965 (Italian host conductor Gianni Ferrio), 1970 (Dutch host conductor Dolf van der Linden), from 1972 to 1975 (

Colman Pearce Colman Pearce (born 22 September 1938) is an Irish pianist and conductor. Born in Dublin, Pearce was educated at University College Dublin and studied conducting in Hilversum and Vienna. He became a conductor for the RTÉ Concert Orchestra in t ...

), 1979 (Proinnsias Ó Duinn), 1994 (no conductor, although Kelehan conducted three other entries from Romania, Greece and Poland) and in 1997 ( Frank McNamara was the musical director for the contest staged in Dublin, but the Irish entry was played with a backing track with no orchestra).

Ronan Keating Ronan Patrick John Keating (born 3 March 1977) is an Irish singer. He debuted in 1993 alongside Keith Duffy, Michael Graham, Shane Lynch, and Stephen Gately, as the co-lead singer (with Gately) of Irish pop group Boyzone. His solo career s ...

(who presented the 1997 contest) collaborated on the 2009 entry for

Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of Denmark , establish ...

. RTÉ presenter Marty Whelan has been the national commentator since .

Records

Ireland holds the record for the most victories: seven wins including three consecutive wins. The country has also achieved second place four times and third once. Ireland is one of the few countries to have achieved consecutive wins (along with Spain, Luxembourg and Israel) and the only country to win consecutively three times, and the nation won again in 1996, thereby accumulating four victories in five years. Ireland is the only country to host the contest consecutively and is one of eight countries never to turn down the chance to host the event. Out of 55 appearances and 45 finals, Ireland has reached the top ten 31 times and the top five 18 times. As of 2022, Ireland has not reached the top five since 1997. Ireland holds the record for most points from one country in a year (alongside France) in the 'one point per juror' voting system, achieving nine votes out of a possible ten from Belgium (in ). France had achieved this same feat in . Ireland has an average of 74 points per contest, the highest average, two points above the . During the first semi-final of the 2014 contest, it was revealed that the duo Jedward hold two Eurovision records: the highest hair (18.9 cm) and the biggest shoulder pads.

Participation overview

''Congratulations: 50 Years of the Eurovision Song Contest''

Ireland was one of two countries to have two entries entered into '' Congratulations: 50 Years of the Eurovision Song Contest'', with the entry "

" and the " Hold Me Now". Co-host of the contest

appeared. Johnny Logan performed his single "When a Woman Loved a Man". Irish winners Eimear Quinn,

and

performed as backing singers to most of the songs with Jakob Sveistrup who represented in 2005. Marty Whelan provided commentary of the contest for Ireland on

Hostings

Ireland is the only country to have hosted multiple contests in succession; three in a row between 1993 and 1995. Six of the seven contests held in Ireland have been held in

; three at the Point Theatre, two at the

RDS Simmonscourt The Royal Dublin Society (RDS) ( ga, Cumann Ríoga Bhaile Átha Cliath) is an Irish philanthropic organisation and members club which was founded as the 'Dublin Society' on 25 June 1731 with the aim to see Ireland thrive culturally and economi ...

and one at the Gaiety Theatre. In addition, the 1993 contest was held in Millstreet,

. Dublin holds the record for hosting the most contests of any Eurovision host city.

Awards

Marcel Bezençon Awards

Related involvement

Conductors

Heads of delegation

Commentators and spokespersons

Over the years RTÉ commentary has been provided by several experienced radio and television presenters, including Larry Gogan, Jimmy Greeley, Gay Byrne,

Ronan Collins Ronan Collins (born 9 October 1952) is an Irish broadcaster from Glasnevin, Dublin. Up until 23 December 2022, Collins held the prestige of maintaining one of the longest-running radio shows on Ireland’s national station, RTÉ Radio 1. At its ...

, Pat Kenny and Mike Murphy. However Marty Whelan has provided the RTÉ Television commentary since 2000 although Whelan himself had previously commentated for the 1987 event. Ireland did not participate in the 1983 edition in Germany, nor did they send a commentator to Munich that year, but instead broadcast the BBC feed of the contest with

Terry Wogan Sir Michael Terence Wogan (; 3 August 1938 – 31 January 2016) was an Irish radio and television broadcaster who worked for the BBC in the UK for most of his career. Between 1993 and his semi-retirement in December 2009, his BBC Radio 2 week ...

as commentator, who welcomed viewers in Ireland during his introduction. RTÉ Radio, however, did provide commentary by

Brendan Balfe Brendan Balfe (born 19 September 1945 in Dublin) is an Irish radio personality, who was on-air consistently for more than 40 years on RTÉ. He retired in 2010. Comedy has been a feature of many of Balfe's programmes. He has won three Internatio ...

Gallery

File:Eurovision Song Contest 1965 - Butch Moore.jpg,

Butch Moore James Augustine "Butch" Moore (10 January 1938 – 3 April 2001) was an Irish singer and a showband icon during the 1960s. Moore was born in Dublin, Ireland. He achieved celebrity status as Ireland's first contestant in the Eurovision Song Con ...

in Naples (

1965 Events January–February * January 14 – The Prime Minister of Northern Ireland and the Taoiseach of the Republic of Ireland meet for the first time in 43 years. * January 20 ** Lyndon B. Johnson is sworn in for a full term ...

) File:Winnares Dana (Ierland) zingt, Bestanddeelnr 923-3687.jpg, Dana in Amsterdam ( 1970) File:Eurovisie Songfestival 76 Den Haag Red Hurley (Ierland), Bestanddeelnr 928-5033.jpg,

Red Hurley Brian "Red" Hurley (born 11 November 1949) is an Irish singer. Hurley's career includes singing lead for bands such as The Colours, The Wheels, and The Nevada (né The Nevada Showband). He had a series of number one records in the 1970s while p ...

in The Hague ( 1976) File:Eurovisie Songfestival 1980 ( Den Haag ) winnaar Johnny Logan in aktie, Bestanddeelnr 930-7803.jpg, Johnny Logan in The Hague (

1980 Events January * January 4 – U.S. President Jimmy Carter proclaims a grain embargo against the USSR with the support of the European Commission. * January 6 – Global Positioning System time epoch begins at 00:00 UTC. * January 9 – In ...

) File:ESC 2007 Ireland - Dervish - They can't stop the spring.jpg, Dervish in Helsinki (

2007 File:2007 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Steve Jobs unveils Apple Inc., Apple's first iPhone (1st generation), iPhone; TAM Airlines Flight 3054 overruns a runway and crashes into a gas station, killing almost 200 people; Former Pakis ...

) File:ESC 2008 - Ireland - Dustin the Turkey, 1st semifinal.jpg,

in Belgrade (

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

) File:Black Daisy & Sinéad Mulvey.jpg, Sinéad Mulvey &

in Moscow (

2009 File:2009 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The vertical stabilizer of Air France Flight 447 is pulled out from the Atlantic Ocean; Barack Obama becomes the first African American to become President of the United States; Protests ...

) File:Niamh Kavanagh - It's For You (2nd Semi-final).jpg, Niamh Kavanagh in Oslo (

2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...

) File:Ireland at ESC 2011.jpg, Jedward in Düsseldorf (

2011 File:2011 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: a protester partaking in Occupy Wall Street heralds the beginning of the Occupy movement; protests against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who was killed that October; a young man celebrates ...

) File:ESC2013 - Ireland 02 (crop).jpg, Ryan Dolan in Malmö (

2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fa ...

) File:ESC2014 - Ireland 01 (crop).jpg, Kasey Smith in Copenhagen (

2014 File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wa ...

) File:20150516 ESC 2015 Molly Sterling 7608.jpg, Molly Sterling in Vienna (

2015 File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the April ...

) File:ESC2016 - Ireland 01 8.jpg, Nicky Byrne in Stockholm ( 2016) File:Eurovision Song Contest 2017, Semi Final 2 Rehearsals. Photo 226.jpg,

Brendan Murray Brendan Hugh Francis Murray (born 16 November 1996) is an Irish singer and former member of the Irish boy band HomeTown. He represented Ireland in the Eurovision Song Contest 2017 with the song " Dying to Try" but failed to qualify for the fi ...

in Kyiv ( 2017) File:Ryan O’Shaughnessy (Ireland 2018).jpg, Ryan O'Shaughnessy in Lisbon (

2018 File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the United ...

) File:ESC2019-Ireland.jpg, Sarah McTernan in Tel Aviv ( 2019) File:ESC 2021 Rotterdam 1st Semi Jury Show Ireland (cropped).jpg, Lesley Roy in Rotterdam ( 2021) File:Eurovision 2022 - Semi-final 2 - Ireland - Brooke.jpg,

in Turin ()

Notes

References

External links

Ireland Eurovision fan website
''escireland.com''

''eurovisioncovers.co.uk'' {{Authority control Countries in the Eurovision Song Contest