Eurovision 2008 - Ireland

Irelande douze pointe
Dustin the Turkey

Music: Darren Smith, Simon Fine
Lyrics: Johnny Morrison


History (1956 to 2007):

Ireland's previous appearances: 41 year(s) out of 52
Years participated: 1965-1982; 1984-2001; 2003-
Best result: 1st (1970, 1980, 1987, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1996)

With 39 appearances, Ireland has appeared at Eurovision the same number of times as Portugal and Finland, but with a rather more impressive record to show for it. The country has won an incredible seven times, twice with entries performed by Johnny Logan - the only artist to have won Eurovision more than once. Unsurprisingly, Ireland's record is better than any other country - France, Luxembourg and the UK are the next best, with five victories each, none of which - on recent form - are likely to challenge Ireland's tally just yet.

Amazingly, Ireland won four contests in five years during the mid 1990s, with songs performed by Linda Martin ('Why me?', 92), Niamh Kavanagh ('In your eyes', 93), Paul Harrington and Charlie McGettigan ('Rock 'n' roll kids', 94), and most recently with Eimear Quinn and 'The voice' (96). While all secured easy victories at the time thanks to the votes of the national juries, none really appeared to command much support among the public or Eurovision fans - a situation that may well have precipitated the demise of the juries in favour of televoting since 1997. In hindsight, I still find 'Why me?' to be mawkish and old-fashioned, but 'In your eyes', 'Rock 'n' roll kids' and 'The voice' have stood the test of time well, and are maturing into Eurovision evergreens. Nevertheless, Dana's 'All kinds of everything' from 1970, and Johnny Logan's two songs from 1980 and 1987, 'What's another year' and 'Hold me now', probably remain Ireland's best known winners among the public at large.

Since its last win a decade ago, Ireland's fortunes have suffered a remarkable downturn similar to that of the UK. Though 1997's 'Mysterious Woman' came a clear second to Katrina and the Waves, 1998's entry by Dawn stalled in (what was in Irish terms) a disappointing 9th place, while 1999's song finished 17th, giving Ireland one of its lowest ever placings. 2000's 6th place provided a brief respite from the gloom, before 2001's entry, 'Without your love' scored a miserable 6 points - probably 6 more than it deserved - and 21st place. For the first time, Ireland suffered the indignation of being relegated and had to miss the 2002 contest all together. With a great deal of pride riding on 2003's comeback, Mickey Harte's 'We've got the world', finished 11th, just enough to secure Ireland's direct place in the 2004 Final, but a far cry from the country's success of old.

As Eurovision has embraced new countries and musical styles, some would claim that Ireland's recent entries have sounded increasingly old fashioned; equally, with the free language rule since 1999, Ireland seems to have suffered from no longer having the automatic advantage of performing in English. This was ably illustrated by the Irish entry in 2004, Chris Doran's dismal 'If my world stopped turning' only missing out on 'nul points' because the UK inexplicably awarded it 7. On the plus side, 2005's effort managed to score rather more points than that, with Donna and Joe giving a valiant performance of 'Love?' in the Semi Final. However, its 14th place was not good enough to gain Ireland a place in the Final, meaning that the country must once again take part in the Semi Final in 2006.

In 2006 Ireland was represented by Brian Kenedy and in 2007 by Dervish.


This year's entry:





My opinion & prediction:


Noooooooooo! ,,Eurovision died and Ireland shot the last bullet by sending the Turkey” (Johnny Logan). A comedy act, I think it’s the best comedy act from the night, with a turkey puppet singing repeatedly ,,Irelande douze pointe”. I don’t want to think about what will happen if Ireland wins the Eurovision this year.

My prediction for the Semi Final: 1st to 3th
My prediction for the Final: Definite qualifier; 1st to 2nd, possible winner