Ireland in the Eurovision Song Contest 2024

Eurovision Song Contest 2024
Country	Ireland
National selection
Selection process	Eurosong 2024
Selection date(s)	26 January 2024
Selected entrant	Bambie Thug
Selected song	"Doomsday Blue"
Selected songwriter(s)	Bambie Ray Robinson Olivia Cassy Brooking Sam Matlock Tyler Ryder
Ireland in the Eurovision Song Contest
◄2023 • 2024

Ireland is set to participate in the Eurovision Song Contest 2024 in Malmö, Sweden, with "Doomsday Blue" performed by Bambie Thug. The Irish broadcaster, RTÉ, organised the national final Eurosong 2024 in order to select the Irish entry for the contest.

Background[edit]

Prior to the 2024 contest, Ireland has participated in the Eurovision Song Contest fifty-five times since its first entry in 1965.^[1] Ireland has won the contest a record seven times in total, only equalled by Sweden in 2023. The country's first win came in 1970, with then-18-year-old Dana winning with "All Kinds of Everything". Ireland holds the record for being the only country to win the contest three times in a row (in 1992, 1993 and 1994), as well as having the only three-time winner (Johnny Logan, who won in 1980 as a singer, 1987 as a singer-songwriter, and again in 1992 as a songwriter). In 2011 and 2012, Jedward represented the nation for two consecutive years, managing to qualify to the final both times and achieve Ireland's highest position in the contest since 1997 Marc Roberts, placing eighth in 2011 with the song "Lipstick". Since 2013, only two Irish entries managed to qualify for the final: Ryan Dolan's "Only Love Survives" which placed 26th (last) in the final in 2013, and Ryan O'Shaughnessy's "Together" which placed 16th in the final in 2018. The Irish entry in 2023, "We Are One" performed by Wild Youth, once again failed to qualify to the final.^[1]

The Irish national broadcaster, Raidió Teilifís Éireann (RTÉ), broadcasts the event within Ireland and organises the selection process for the nation's entry. Upon failing to qualify for the 2023 final, Irish head of delegation Michael Kealy revealed that RTÉ was considering changing their song selection process for 2024.^[2] The national final was later confirmed as the intended selection method for the Irish entry in the Eurovision Song Contest 2024.^[3]

Before Eurovision[edit]

Eurosong 2024[edit]

Eurosong 2024 was the national final format developed by RTÉ in order to select Ireland's entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2024. It was held on 26 January 2024, once again during a special edition of The Late Late Show, broadcast on RTÉ One and RTÉ Player^[4][5] and hosted by Patrick Kielty.^[6]

Competing entries[edit]

On 15 June 2023, RTÉ opened a submission period where artists and composers would be able to submit their entries for the competition until 29 September 2023; shortly before the closing, the deadline was extended until the following 20 October.^[3][7] In late November 2023, head of delegation Michael Kealy revealed that around 378 entries had been received.^[8]

The competing entries were selected by a jury panel with members appointed by RTÉ among music industry professionals and Eurovision fans and presided by Kealy, both from the received submissions and by direct invitation of established artists.^[3][7] In the first phase of the process, less than 60 entries were shortlisted. Four finalists were selected from these based on the ten favourites of each jury member, and an additional two through a "fast-track" procedure.^[8] They were revealed daily between 8 and 12 January 2024 on The Ray D'Arcy Show, broadcast on RTÉ Radio 1.^{[9][10][11][12][13][14][15]}

Final[edit]

The final of Eurosong 2024 took place at the RTÉ Television Centre on 26 January 2024. The results were determined by a combination of votes from a national jury, an international jury and a televote – each awarding sets of 2, 4, 6, 8, 10 and 12 points – with the latter taking precedence in the event of a tie in the first place. The international jury panel consisted of Luxembourgish head of delegation Eric Lehmann, Finnish executive producer Anssi Autio [fi] of Yle, Austrian music manager Kerstin Breyer and British journalist Deban Aderemi of Wiwibloggs, while the national jury panel consisted of songwriter Niall Mooney, radio DJ Tara Murray, music consultant Elaine McCann and RTÉ 2fm presenter Tracy Clifford; the televote points were announced by 2022 Irish representative Brooke Scullion. During the show, Ukrainian group Kalush Orchestra performed their 2022 winning song "Stefania" as a guest act. Bambie Thug with "Doomsday Blue" was proclaimed the winner with a total of 32 points, having received the top score from both the national jury and the public vote.^[16][17][18]

Promotion[edit]

As part of the promotion of their participation in the contest, Bambie Thug attended the PrePartyES in Madrid on 30 March 2024, the London Eurovision Party on 7 April 2024 and the Eurovision in Concert event in Amsterdam on 13 April 2024.^[19][20][21]

Calls for boycott[edit]

The inclusion of Israel in the list of participants for the Eurovision Song Contest 2024 despite the ongoing humanitarian crisis resulting from Israeli military operations in the Gaza Strip during the Israel–Hamas war sparked controversy in Ireland as well as several other participating countries, with calls and petitions for broadcasters to boycott the event. By mid-December 2023, RTÉ had received over 465 emails urging a boycott, to which RTÉ responded that it had always approached the event as "a non-political contest",^[22] with Michael Kealy adding that he would "go along" with any decision the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) would make.^[23] Labour Party TD Aodhán Ó Ríordáin called for Ireland to boycott the competition, while Taoiseach Leo Varadkar stated his opposition to a boycott.^[24][25] By mid-January, the number of emails received had risen to over 600. Shortly before the final, Eurosong participants Erica-Cody and eventual winner Bambie Thug expressed their opposition to Israel's participation; however, the former explained that she was still uncertain about boycotting the contest in case of victory, and the latter stated that the responsibility over the country's participation lay with the EBU rather than the artists.^[6] Since the Eurosong final, another 1,400 emails were received by early March, around 1,000 of which featuring the "same content, signed and sent by different emailers".^[26]

While not mentioning Israel's participation in the contest, on 29 March 2024, Bambie Thug released a joint statement with other Eurovision 2024 entrants – namely Gåte (Norway), Iolanda (Portugal), Megara (San Marino), Mustii (Belgium), Nemo (Switzerland), Olly Alexander (United Kingdom), Saba (Denmark), Silvester Belt (Lithuania) and Windows95man (Finland) – calling for "an immediate and lasting ceasefire" in Gaza as well as the return of the Israeli hostages held by Hamas. However, the singer added that their personal "stance on double standards remains firm", referring to earlier comparisons they had drawn with the exclusion of Russia from the 2022 contest following its invasion of Ukraine, and explained that if they had decided to boycott the event it would have meant "one less pro-Palestinian voice at the contest".^[27][28]

At Eurovision[edit]

The Eurovision Song Contest 2024 will take place at the Malmö Arena in Malmö, Sweden, and consist of two semi-finals held on the respective dates of 7 and 9 May and the final on 11 May 2024. All nations with the exceptions of the host country and the "Big Five" (France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom) are required to qualify from one of two semi-finals in order to compete in the final; the top ten countries from each semi-final will progress to the final. On 30 January 2024, an allocation draw was held to determine which of the two semi-finals, as well as which half of the show, each country will perform in; the EBU split up the competing countries into different pots based on voting patterns from previous contests, with countries with favourable voting histories put into the same pot.^[29] Ireland was scheduled for the first half of the first semi-final.^[30] The shows' producers then decided the running order for the semi-finals; Ireland was set to perform in position 4, following the entry from Lithuania and before the entry from Ukraine.^[31]

Performance[edit]

Bambie Thug is taking part in technical rehearsals on 27 April and 1 May, followed by dress rehearsals on 6 and 7 May.^[32] Their performance of "Doomsday Blue" at the contest is staged by Matt Williams and choreographed by Sergio Jaén.^[33]

References[edit]