Ireland in the Eurovision Song Contest 2010

Ireland selected its entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2010 by a national selection on 5 March 2010. After an open call for songs, Ireland's national broadcaster Raidió Teilifís Éireann (RTÉ) announced on 10 February the five participants who would compete in Eurosong 2010, the selection process.

Eurovision Song Contest 2010
Country Ireland
National selection
Selection processEurosong 2010
Selection date(s)5 March 2010
Selected entrantNiamh Kavanagh
Selected song"It's for You"
Finals performance
Semi-final resultQualified (9th, 67 points)
Final result23rd, 25 points
Ireland in the Eurovision Song Contest
◄2009 • 2010 • 2011►

Background
Main article: Ireland in the Eurovision Song Contest

Ireland has participated in the Eurovision Song Contest forty-three times since the country's first entry in 1965,[1] winning a total of seven times - in 1970 with the song "All Kinds of Everything" performed by Dana; two wins for Johnny Logan in 1980 and 1987 with the songs "What's Another Year" and Hold Me Now"; in 1992 with the song "Why Me?" performed by Linda Martin; in 1993 with the song "In Your Eyes" performed by Niamh Kavanagh; in 1994 with the song "Rock 'n' Roll Kids" performed by Paul Harrington and Charlie McGettigan; and in 1996 with "The Voice" performed by Eimear Quinn - a record which no country has ever matched or beaten. In recent years, however, Ireland's impressive record at Eurovision has taken a turn, with only two Top 10 results during the 2000s, and Ireland's first last place finish in 2007, "They Can't Stop The Spring" performed by Dervish which only received 5 points.[2]

The Irish national broadcater, RTÉ, hosts the event each year and organizes the selection process for its entry.[3] Many methods of selection have been used, with the most common method used by RTÉ being a national final featuring a multi-artist, multi-song selection in which regional juries, and later the public, choosing the winner. In previous years the artist has sometimes been selected internally by RTÉ, with the song being chosen by the public, and previously a talent show format, You're a Star, was used between the years 2003 and 2005.

After speculation that Ireland may be forced to withdraw from the Eurovision Song Contest due to the financial climate in the country, RTÉ confirmed on 28 October that Ireland would participate in the Contest.[4] For the 2010 Eurovision Song Contest RTÉ decided to hold a five performer national final to choose the song to represent them.

Before Eurovision

Eurosong 2010

Eurosong 2010 was the national final format developed by RTÉ in order to select Ireland's entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2010. The competition was broadcast as a special edition of The Late Late Show held on 5 March 2010 at the RTÉ television studios in Dublin, and was hosted by Ryan Tubridy. The competition was broadcast on RTÉ One, and online at the RTÉ website and the EBU's official web stream ESCTV.[5][6]

Competing entries

Artists and composers were able to submit their entries for the competition until 1 February 2010.[7] Over 300 entries were submitted, and a five-member jury panel, reflecting different expertise both in the music industry and the Eurovision Song Contest, selected five finalists for the competition. The jury panel was also eligible to change the performers of each song to their liking if the initial performer was deemed unsuitable. will have final say on the performers of each song, and can change the performers of each song to their liking. The selection jury consisted of Linda Martin (Irish Eurovision winner, chairperson), Julian Benson (choreographer), Mark Crossingham (MD Universal Music Ireland), Larry Gogan (radio broadcaster) and Diarmuid Furlong (Eurovision Song Contest expert and fan, president of OGAE Ireland).[8][9][10]

Monika Ivkic

On 10 February 2010, RTÉ revealed the five competing artists. The line-up was a star-studded and international one, which included Mikey Graham (member of Irish boyband Boyzone) and Niamh Kavanagh (Eurovision Song Contest 1993 winner for Ireland). Other participants included Bosnian singer Monika Ivkic (participant in the fifth season of Deutschland sucht den Superstar, German version of American Idol), Leanne Moore (winner of the last season of Irish talent show You're a Star) and Lee Bradshaw (participant in Eurosong 2009, placed fourth).[11][12][13]

The songwriting teams were also international, and also included many with Eurovision experience: Irish columnist John Waters and Tommy Moran were known for writing the 2007 entry, "They Can't Stop the Spring", performed by Dervish, and infamously came last at the Eurovision Song Contest 2007. Marc Paelinck, a Belgian composer, had written three past Eurovision songs - Belgium in 2002 and 2004, and Malta in 2009. Niall Mooney and Jonas Gladnikoff were part of the team behind last year's Irish entry "Et Cetera", as well as various national final entries across Europe. They were joined by successful Swedish songwriters Mårten and Lina Eriksson. German songwriters Ralph Siegel and John O'Flynn, aka Bernd Meinunger, had written 16 Eurovision entries together over 4 countries, including Germany's only Eurovision winner "Ein bißchen Frieden".[14]

The songs were premiered on 4 March 2010 on The Derek Mooney Show, broadcast on RTÉ Radio 1.[15][16]

Final

The final took place 5 March 2010. The running order draw took place in February 2010 in the presence of an independent auditor.[17] Five entries competed and the winner, "It's for You" performed by Niamh Kavanagh, was determined by the 50/50 combination of a public vote and a regional jury vote from six regions in Ireland: Cork, Dundalk, Limerick, Sligo, Dublin and Galway. Each jury region awarded 12, 10, 8, 6 and 4 points to their top 5 songs, while the public vote awarded 72, 60, 48, 36 and 24 points to their top 5 songs.[18] Although it was revealed that the Irish Eurovision panel wanted Niamh to win before the selection took place. British actor Justin Lee Collins was not happy at this predicted result, as he submitted a song written by Ronan Keating, but was not chosen as one of the finalists.[11][19]

The show also featured appearances by three-time Eurovision winner (singer in 1980 and 1987; songwriter in 1987 and 1992) Johnny Logan, Eurovision 1970 winner Dana, runner-up at Eurovision 1992 for the United Kingdom Michael Ball, and TV and radio personality and Eurovision commentator for Ireland Marty Whelan.[20] Dana performed her Eurovision winning song "All Kinds of Everything" and Johnny Logan performed his 1980 Eurovision winning song "What's Another Year".

Final – 5 March 2010
DrawArtistSongLyrics (l) / Music (m)JuryTelevoteTotalPlace
1Leanne Moore"Does Heaven Need Much More?"John Waters (m & l), Tommy Moran (m & l)4236784
2Lee Bradshaw"River of Silence"Ralph Siegel (m), John O'Flynn (l), José Juan Santana Rodríguez (l)2624505
3Mikey Graham"Baby, Nothing's Wrong"Michael Graham (m & l), Scott Newman (m & l), Yann O'Brien (m & l)50601102
4Monika Ivkic"Fashion Queen"Marc Paelinck (m & l), Mathias Strasser (m & l)5048983
5Niamh Kavanagh"It's for You"Niall Mooney (m), Mårten Eriksson (m), Jonas Gladnikoff (m), Lina Eriksson (l)72721441

At Eurovision

Ireland competed in the second semi-final of the contest on 27 May.[21] The song was performed in the 12th position, following the entry from Slovenia and preceding the entry from Bulgaria. In the voting for the Final, Ireland was awarded 7 points from the United Kingdom. Had only a televoting and not jury vote been cast, Ireland would have been awarded 12 points as they were the most popular with the British audience.

RTÉ television commentary was provided by Marty Whelan in all three shows,[22] with former Irish Eurovision entrant Maxi providing radio commentary for the second semi-final.[23]

Points awarded by Ireland[24]
Points awarded to Ireland (Semi-final 2)
12 points 10 points 8 points 7 points 6 points
5 points 4 points 3 points 2 points 1 point
Points awarded to Ireland (Final)
12 points 10 points 8 points 7 points 6 points
5 points 4 points 3 points 2 points 1 point

See also

References
  1. Staff. "Eurovision Song Contest 1975 – Year page – Eurovision Song Contest - Oslo 2010". European Broadcasting Union. Retrieved 13 February 2010.
  2. Staff. "History by Country: Ireland". EBU. Retrieved 13 February 2010.
  3. Staff. "RTÉ Television - Eurovision Song Contest 2010". RTÉ. Retrieved 13 February 2010.
  4. Murray, Gavin (28 October 2009). "Ireland: RTÉ confirms participation in Eurovision 2010". ESCToday. Retrieved 28 October 2009.
  5. Grillhofer, Florian (5 March 2010). "Tonight: National final in Ireland". ESCToday. Retrieved 5 March 2010.
  6. Schacht, Andreas (5 March 2010). "Watch LIVE: will Ireland find a winner for Oslo?". European Broadcasting Union. Retrieved 5 March 2010.
  7. Murray, Gavin (19 January 2010). "Ireland: National final on March 5th, 2010". ESCToday. Archived from the original on 20 January 2010. Retrieved 19 January 2010.
  8. Murray, Gavin (10 December 2009). "Ireland: Open call for songs for Eurovision 2010". ESCToday. Retrieved 12 December 2009.
  9. Siim, Jarmo (10 December 2009). "Ireland's RTÉ calls out for Eurovision songs". European Broadcasting Union. Retrieved 12 December 2009.
  10. "RTÉ Calls for Entries for The Eurovision Song Contest 2010". RTÉ. Retrieved 12 December 2009.
  11. Schacht, Andreas (10 February 2010). "Ireland: Niamh Kavanagh back in national final". European Broadcasting Union. Retrieved 10 February 2010.
  12. Grillhofer, Florian (10 February 2010). "Ireland: Line-up for the national final revealed". ESCToday. Archived from the original on 12 February 2010. Retrieved 10 February 2010.
  13. Spackman, Conor (11 February 2010). "Boyzone star Mikey Graham in Eurovision glory bid". BBC. Retrieved 11 February 2010.
  14. Murray, Gavin (11 February 2010). "Ireland: Meet the Eurosong 2010 finalists". ESCToday. Retrieved 11 February 2010.
  15. Murray, Gavin (4 March 2010). "Ireland: All Eurosong 2010 songs online". ESCToday. Retrieved 4 March 2010.
  16. "Mooney - Thursday, March 4th 2010". Raidió Teilifís Éireann. 4 March 2010. Retrieved 4 March 2010.
  17. Murray, Gavin (12 February 2010). "Ireland: National final running order announced". ESCToday. Retrieved 12 February 2010.
  18. "EUROSONG 2010 - VOTING INFORMATION". Raidió Teilifís Éireann. Retrieved 5 March 2010.
  19. Grillhofer, Florian (5 March 2010). "Ireland sends Niamh Kavangh to Eurovision". ESCToday. Retrieved 5 March 2010.
  20. Grillhofer, Florian (5 March 2010). "Ireland: Tubridy excited about first time Eurosong show". ESCToday. Retrieved 5 March 2010.
  21. Klier, Marcus (7 February 2010). "Semi final allocation for Oslo determined". ESC Today. Archived from the original on 10 February 2010. Retrieved 9 February 2010.
  22. "RTÉ Television - Eurovision Song Contest 2010". Raidió Teilifís Éireann. Retrieved 20 May 2010.
  23. "RTÉ Television - Eurovision Song Contest 2010". Raidió Teilifís Éireann. Retrieved 25 May 2010.
  24. Eurovision Song Contest 2008
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