Ireland has been represented at theEurovision Song Contest 58 times since making its debut at the1965 contest inNaples, missing only two contests since, in1983 and2002. The current Irish participating broadcaster in the contest isRaidió Teilifís Éireann (RTÉ). Ireland shares a joint record total of seven wins withSweden, and is the only country to have won three times consecutively. Ireland has also finished second four times.
Since the introduction of the qualifying round in1994, Ireland has won the contest twice. Since the introduction of semi-finals in2004, Ireland has failed to reach the final 11 times, and has twice finished last in the final, in2007 and2013. Ireland's only top 10 results between 2007 and 2024 were an eighth-place finish with "Lipstick" byJedward in2011, and a sixth-place finish with "Doomsday Blue" byBambie Thug in2024.
Radio Éireann (RÉ) in 1965 and 1966,Radio Telefís Éireann (RTÉ) between 1967 and 2009, andRaidió Teilifís Éireann (RTÉ) since 2010, have been consecutively full members of theEuropean Broadcasting Union (EBU), thus eligible to participate in theEurovision Song Contest. They have participated representing Ireland since RÉ's first entry in thetenth edition of the contest in 1965. RTÉ broadcasts the semi-finals onRTÉ2, and the final onRTÉ One.[1]
Ireland has sent 59 entries to the Eurovision Song Contest;[a] of these, seven have won and eighteen have finished in the top five, making Ireland tied withSweden as the most successful country in the contest overall as of 2025. Since its debut in1965, the country has missed only two contests: the1983 contest inMunich and the2002 contest inTallinn. A strike at RTÉ in 1983 meant that the station lacked the resources to send a participant, so it broadcast the contest with theBBC 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. RTÉ has hosted the contest on seven occasions; all were held in the Irish capitalDublin except for the1993 contest, which was staged inMillstreet, a town in north-westCounty Cork with a population of 1,500 people.[2] All of Ireland's entries have been performed in English with the exception of the1972 entry, "Ceol an Ghrá", which was sung in Irish.
Johnny Logan won Eurovision for Ireland as a solo singer on two occasions – in1980, as singer and songwriter in1987 – and he composed the winning entry forLinda Martin in1992.
Johnny Logan brought Ireland its second victory in1980 with "What's Another Year?". Girl groupSheeba then finished fifth in1981. Logan went on to write the1984 entry "Terminal 3", performed byLinda Martin, which finished second. In1987, Logan returned to the contest as a performer, and became the first entrant to win the contest twice, achieving his second victory with the self-penned "Hold Me Now".
Ireland's most successful decade to date is the 1990s, beginning withLiam Reilly finishing joint second in1990. Ireland subsequently achieved an unequalled three consecutive victories in the contest: in1992, 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; in1993,Niamh Kavanagh was victorious over theUnited Kingdom'sSonia with "In Your Eyes"; and in1994,Paul Harrington andCharlie McGettigan won withBrendan Graham's "Rock 'n' Roll Kids". The winning streak was broken in1995 when Hiberno-Nordic groupSecret Garden, representing Norway, won with the almost entirely instrumental "Nocturne". The group does contain an Irish member,Naas-bornFionnuala Sherry. The decade would see yet another victory for Ireland in1996 whenEimear Quinn won with another successful Brendan Graham composition, "The Voice";Marc Roberts would also finish second for Ireland in1997, 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 whenBrian Kennedy finished tenth in2006. At the2007 contest, Ireland's representatives wereIrish folk groupDervish performing "They Can't Stop The Spring"; having automatically qualified for the final, the group finished last with five points (all fromAlbania, whose jury votes prevented Ireland from achieving its first no-point score), becoming the first Irish entrants to come last in a final. In2008,Dustin the Turkey failed to qualify for the final with his song "Irelande Douze Pointe"; the same fate befellSinéad Mulvey andBlack Daisy in2009.[3]
In2011, Ireland's luck changed whenX Factor finalistsJedward finished in eighth place with 119 points, thus making them Ireland's most successful entry in 11 years. Their song "Lipstick" topped theiTunes charts in Austria, Germany, Ireland and Sweden. Jedward represented Ireland again in2012 with "Waterline", but after making it through to the final, they were awarded only 46 points, finishing in 19th place. In2013, Ireland came last in the final for the second time.
In 2018, Ireland qualified for the final for the first time since 2013 withRyan O'Shaughnessy and "Together", but four more non-qualifications followed in2019,2021,2022 and2023. The country returned to the final in2024 withBambie Thug and "Doomsday Blue", and finished in sixth place with 278 points, achieving Ireland's best result since2000 and breakingPaul Harrington andCharlie McGettigan's record for the most points achieved by an Irish entry in the final.
Eight people have written and composed more than one Irish entry:Brendan Graham (1976, 1985, 1994, 1996), Johnny Logan (1984, 1987, 1992),Jonas Gladnikoff (2009, 2010, 2014), Tommy and Jimmy Swarbrigg (1975, 1977), Liam Reilly (1990, 1991), Joe Burkett (composer 1972, lyricist 1981), Niall Mooney (2009, 2010) andJörgen Elofsson (2017, 2023).[4]
In the years when the live orchestra was present in the contest, almost all of Ireland's Eurovision entries were conducted byNoel Kelehan. The exceptions were 1965 (Italian host conductorGianni Ferrio), 1970 (Dutch host conductorDolf van der Linden), from 1972 to 1975 (Colman Pearce), 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 (who presented the 1997 contest) collaborated on the 2009 entry forDenmark.[5]
Ireland holds the record for the most victories (jointly with Sweden): 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 59 appearances and 46 finals, Ireland has reached the top ten 31 times and the top five 18 times. As of 2024, 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 (in1970). France had achieved this same feat in1958.
Ireland has an average of 74 points per contest, the highest average, two points above theUnited Kingdom.
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.
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 inDublin; three at thePoint Theatre, two at theRDS Simmonscourt and one at theGaiety Theatre. In addition, the 1993 contest was held inMillstreet,County Cork. Dublin holds the record for hosting the most contests of any Eurovision host city.
For the show's broadcast on RTÉ, various commentators have provided commentary on the contest in the English language. At the Eurovision Song Contest after all points are calculated, the presenters of the show call upon each voting country to invite each respective spokesperson to announce the results of their vote on-screen.[23]
Over the years RTÉ commentary has been provided by several experienced radio and television presenters, includingLarry Gogan,Jimmy Greeley,Gay Byrne,Ronan Collins,Pat Kenny, andMike Murphy.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 due to a strike, nor did they send a commentator to Munich that year, but instead broadcast the BBC feed of the contest withTerry Wogan as commentator, who welcomed viewers in Ireland during his introduction. RTÉ Radio, however, did provide commentary byBrendan Balfe.
^Plus the entry selected for the cancelled2020 contest.
^abAccording to thethen-Eurovision rules, the top ten non-Big Four countries from the previous year along with the Big Four automatically qualified for the Grand Final without having to compete in semi-finals. For example, if Germany and France placed inside the top ten, the 11th and 12th spots were advanced to next year's Grand Final along with all countries ranked in the top ten.
^Irish commentatorPat Kenny and British commentatorTerry Wogan both erroneously credit Kelehan as the conductor of the Irish entry. The song was performed without orchestral accompaniment. Kelehan did, however, conduct the Greek, Polish, and Romanian entries.
^Kelehan also conducted the Polish entry. The interval act, "Lumen," was conducted by Proinnsías Ó Duinn.
^That year's Irish national final was presented with a smaller band.
^That year's Irish national final was presented without an orchestra.
^Roxburgh, Gordon (2012).Songs for Europe: The United Kingdom at the Eurovision Song Contest. Vol. One: The 1950s and 1960s. Prestatyn:Telos Publishing. pp. 93–101.ISBN978-1-84583-065-6.
^Roxburgh, Gordon (2014).Songs for Europe: The United Kingdom at the Eurovision Song Contest. Vol. Two: The 1970s. Prestatyn:Telos Publishing. pp. 142–168.ISBN978-1-84583-093-9.
^Roxburgh, Gordon (2016).Songs for Europe: The United Kingdom at the Eurovision Song Contest. Vol. Three: The 1980s. Prestatyn:Telos Publishing.ISBN978-1-84583-118-9.
^"Television Today".The Irish Times. Dublin, Ireland. 22 March 1975. p. 20. Retrieved22 December 2022.
^"The Swabriggs quietly confident".The Cork Examiner. Cork, Ireland. 19 March 1975.RTE's television commentator will be Mike Murphy and the radio commentary will be by Liam Devally.
^"Radio Today".The Irish Times. Dublin, Ireland. 22 March 1975. p. 20. Retrieved22 December 2022.
^"Television Today".The Irish Times. Dublin, Ireland. 3 April 1976. p. 17. Retrieved22 December 2022.
^"Radio – Saturday".The Irish Times Weekend. Dublin, Ireland. 3 May 1986. p. 7.Archived from the original on 10 February 2011. Retrieved22 December 2022.
^"Saturday – Television".RTÉ Guide. Dublin, Ireland. 8 May 1987. p. 14.
^"Radio – Saturday".RTÉ Guide. Dublin, Ireland. 8 May 1987. p. 38.
^Eurovision Song Contest: Dublin 1988 (Television programme) (in English and French).Dublin,Ireland: Radio Téléfis Éireann. 30 April 1988.
^"Saturday's Television".The Irish Times Weekend. Dublin, Ireland. 30 April 1986. p. 6. Retrieved22 December 2022.
^"Radio".The Irish Times Weekend. Dublin, Ireland. 30 April 1986. p. 6. Retrieved22 December 2022.
^"Saturday's Television".The Irish Times Weekend. Dublin, Ireland. 6 May 1989. p. 6. Retrieved19 December 2022.
^"Radio".The Irish Times Weekend. Dublin, Ireland. 6 May 1989. p. 6. Retrieved19 December 2022.
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