Thanks to Johnny Logan's win in

Brussels Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...

1987 File:1987 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The MS Herald of Free Enterprise capsizes after leaving the Port of Zeebrugge in Belgium, killing 193; Northwest Airlines Flight 255 crashes after takeoff from Detroit Metropolitan Airport, k ...

, the

1988 Eurovision Song Contest The Eurovision Song Contest 1988 was the 33rd edition of the annual Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Dublin, Ireland, following Johnny Logan's win at the with the song " Hold Me Now". Organised by the European Broadcasting Union (E ...

was to be held in

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

. The song "Take Him Home", written and composed by Peter Eades and performed by Jump The Gun was chosen to represent Ireland after winning the national final selection.

Before Eurovision

''Eurosong '88''

Held on 6 March 1988 at the Olympia Theatre in Dublin, the national final, ''Eurosong '88'' was hosted for the second year in succession by

Marty Whelan Marty may refer to: Names * Marty (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters, also includes stage names * Marty (surname), a list of people Places in the United States * Marty, California, a former settlement * Marty, Min ...

(who would provide commentary for

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 ...

's broadcast of the contest from

2000 File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from ...

onwards, although he did provided the TV commentary once before, in 1987), and Maxi, who had represented Ireland as a soloist in the 1973 Eurovision Song Contest, and again as part of the 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 ...

1981 Events January * January 1 ** Greece enters the European Economic Community, predecessor of the European Union. ** Palau becomes a self-governing territory. * January 10 – Salvadoran Civil War: The FMLN launches its first major offensiv ...

. Eight songs competed in the event, and the winner was selected by a panel of twelve "experts," each of whom awarded each song a score from one to eight points. One member of the panel was Sandy Kelly who had represented Ireland in the 1982 Eurovision Song Contest as a member of

The Duskeys The Duskeys was an Irish family pop group, known for their participation in the Eurovision Song Contest 1982 with the song "Here Today Gone Tomorrow". Background Formed after the break-up of Sandy Kelly's (real name Philomena Ellis) touring sh ...

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 ...

would go on to represent Ireland in the 1990 Eurovision Song Contest (finishing joint 2nd with France). Reilly would also compose the Irish entry in

1991 File:1991 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Boris Yeltsin, elected as Russia's first president, waves the new flag of Russia after the 1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, orchestrated by Soviet hardliners; Mount Pinatubo erupts in the Phil ...

At Eurovision

"Take Him Home" was performed tenth in the running order on the night of the contest, following Switzerland and preceding Germany. At the close of the voting sequence, the song had received 79 points, placing eighth out of 21 songs.

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 ...

was providing the commentary for

RTÉ 1 (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, while ...

viewers, whilst

Larry Gogan Larry is a masculine given name in English, derived from Lawrence or Laurence. It can be a shortened form of those names. Larry may refer to the following: People Arts and entertainment * Larry D. Alexander, American artist/writer *Larry Boone ...

was commentating for listeners on

RTÉ Radio 1 RTÉ Radio 1 ( ga, RTÉ Raidió 1) is an Irish national radio station owned and operated by RTÉ and is the direct descendant of Dublin radio station 2RN, which began broadcasting on a regular basis on 1 January 1926. The total budget for th ...

John Skehan John Skehan (18 July 1922 – 18 November 1992) was a prolific broadcaster on RTÉ, radio and television, for four decades. Prior to joining RTÉ, Skehan served in the Irish Army, reaching the rank of captain during The Emergency. Skehan be ...

was acting as spokesperson for the Irish jury.

Voting

References

External links

Irish national Final 1988 page
{{Eurovision Song Contest 1988

1988 File:1988 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The oil platform Piper Alpha explodes and collapses in the North Sea, killing 165 workers; The USS Vincennes (CG-49) mistakenly shoots down Iran Air Flight 655; Australia celebrates its Australian ...

Countries in the Eurovision Song Contest 1988

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 ...