Ireland in the Eurovision Song Contest 2008

Ireland participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2008 after Radio Telefís Éireann (RTÉ) held a national final, Eurosong 2008, to select the Irish entry for the contest, held in Belgrade, Serbia. For 2008, RTÉ reverted to their multi-song multi-singer format that had previously been used to select the Irish entry at Eurovision.

"Eurosong 2008" redirects here. It is not to be confused with Eurosong (Belgium) § Eurosong (2008).
Eurovision Song Contest 2008
Country Ireland
National selection
Selection processEurosong 2008
Selection date(s)23 February 2008
Selected entrantDustin the Turkey
Selected song"Irelande Douze Pointe"
Finals performance
Semi-final resultFailed to qualify (15th, 22 points)
Ireland in the Eurovision Song Contest
◄2007 • 2008 • 2009►
Dustin the Turkey, popular children's show puppet and Irish representative in the Eurovision Song Contest 2008.

At Eurovision, he placed 15th in the semi-final, failing to qualify for the final of the contest.

Background
Main article: Ireland in the Eurovision Song Contest

Ireland first entered the Eurovision Song Contest in 1965 and has since entered a total of 41 entries up to 2007 with its 42nd contribution in 2008.

Ireland has won the contest seven times in total, with no other country beating or equalling that record. The country's first win came in their sixth entry, 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 country three times in a row (in 1992, 1993 and 1994), as well as having the only three-times winner (Johnny Logan, who won in 1980 as a singer, 1987 as a singer-songwriter, and again in 1992 as a songwriter). 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.

The Irish national broadcaster, Radio Telefís Éireann (RTÉ) broadcasts the event each year and organizes the selection process for the selection its entry. 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 recent 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.

Before Eurovision

After placing last in the Eurovision Song Contest 2007, RTÉ announced that they would review their position in the contest with Tara O'Brien of RTÉ saying that they would "definitely be having a sit-down and looking at our geographical position and going through the whole process."[1][2] RTÉ reached a consensus and agreed to change the selection process and revert to the National Song Contest format that was used before 2001, resulting in seven Irish winners.[3][4]

Eurosong 2008

Eurosong 2008 was the national final format developed by RTÉ in order to select Ireland's entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2008. The competition was held at the University Concert Hall in Limerick on 23 February 2008 and hosted by Ray D'Arcy. The University Concert Hall also hosted the 1994 Irish national final, where "Rock 'n' Roll Kids" was selected to represent Ireland, securing Ireland's sixth win.[5][6]

Format

The competition differed from the previous two years. Instead of involving one artist performing a number of songs in the competition, six artists and songs were selected to compete. Public televoting solely determined the winner. The competition will not only take quality into account, but also the visual presentation and proposed performance details of the finalists.[7]

Competing entries

Artists and composers were able to submit their entries for the competition between 4 November 2007 and 23 January 2008. Artists and composers were also required to include the performance or staging details of their entries.[4] At the closing of the deadline, 150 entries were received, many of them being written by former Irish national final composers including Marc Roberts (1997), Niall Mooney (2004) and Karl Broderick (2005).[8] A jury panel reviewed all of the submissions and selected six songs for the competition. The panel consisted of television producer Bill Hughes, singer and songwriter Eleanor McEvoy, Eurovision 1994 winner Charlie McGettigan, agent and choreographer Julian Benson and representative of RTÉ Julian Vignoles. The six finalists were revealed on 3 February 2008.[5] Among the finalists were children's television presenter/puppet Dustin the Turkey and Irish 1997 Eurovision contestant Marc Roberts.[8] The six songs were presented on 21 February 2008 during the RTÉ Radio 1 programme The Derek Mooney Show.[9]

Artist Song Composer(s)
Donal Skehan "Double Cross My Heart" Joel Humlen, Oscar Görres, Charlie Mason
Dustin the Turkey "Irelande Douze Pointe" Darren Smith, Simon Fine, Dustin the Turkey
Leona Daly "Not Crazy After All" Leona Daly, Steve Booker
Liam Geddes "Sometimes" Susan Hewitt
Maja "Time to Rise" Maja Slatinšek, Žiga Pirnat
Marc Roberts "Chances" Marc Roberts

Final

The national final featured commentary from a panel that consisted of music manager and X Factor judge Louis Walsh, Eurovision 1970 winner Dana Rosemary Scallon and Eurovision 2007 winner Marija Šerifović. Guest performer was Marija Šerifović performing "Molitva".[10] Public televoting in Ireland and Northern Ireland solely selected "Irelande Douze Pointe" performed by Dustin the Turkey as the winner.[11]

Final – 23 February 2008
Draw Artist Song Place
1 Donal Skehan "Double Cross My Heart" —
2 Dustin the Turkey "Irelande Douze Pointe" 1
3 Maja "Time to Rise" —
4 Leona Daly "Not Crazy After All" 2
5 Liam Geddes "Sometimes" —
6 Marc Roberts "Chances" —

At Eurovision

According to Eurovision rules, all nations with the exceptions of the host country and the "Big 4" (France, Germany, Spain and the United Kingdom) are required to qualify from one of two semi-finals in order to compete for the final; the top nine countries from each semi-final, along with one entry per semi-final that were chosen by the jury, progress to the final.[12] The EBU split up countries with a friendly voting history into the two different semi-finals, to give a better chance to other countries to win. On 28 January 2008, the EBU held a special draw which determined that Ireland would be in the first semi-final, held on 20 May 2008.[13]

Dana, one of the judges at Eurosong, spoke out against Dustin's entry, calling it a "mockery of the competition" and calling for Dustin and RTÉ to withdraw from the contest.[14] The entry was also said to have been in breach of the rules of the contest, due to the mocking nature that could "bring the Shows or the ESC as such into disrepute", however, the song was not disqualified.[15] Due to the controversial nature of his entry, Dustin received widespread publicity over his entry before and after his victory. He was mentioned in Spanish media before winning Eurosong and after his victory, Dustin appeared on This Morning, a popular British morning programme on ITV, during Saint Patrick's Day celebrations.[16][17]

For the contest, the commentator for the semi-finals and final on RTÉ One and Two was Marty Whelan, while the commentator for RTÉ Radio 1 was Larry Gogan.[18]

Semi-final
Dustin at the Eurovision semi-final

Dustin, along with his back-up dancers Kitty B and Ann Harrington, sang at the first semi-final on 20 May 2008, performing 11th on the night. The EBU had forced a change of lyrics of the Eurovision performance of the song after the Greek broadcaster Ellinikí Radiofonía Tileórasi (ERT) complained over the use of "Macedonia" in the lyrics of the song in light of the Macedonia naming dispute. The EBU reference group forced the Irish delegation to either change the lyrics of the song to "FYR Macedonia" or similar, or remove Macedonia from the lyrics altogether, which they did.[19]

The stage show at the semi-final included Dustin in his trolley, wearing a silver suit. The trolley was dressed in green, white and gold, with the girls wearing gold dresses, green gloves and head-dresses in green, white and gold. Two of the male backing dancers wore large green, white and gold wings and danced around the stage, while the third back-up dancer wore a gold jump suit. The stage involved rippling effects of black and white, as well as waves of orange, white and green through the LCD screens on the stage.[20] Despite being one of the favourites to win the contest outright, Dustin only managed to receive 22 points, placing 15th of the 19 countries competing and failing to reach the final.

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

After Eurovision

After his Eurovision experience, Dustin returned to Ireland where he launched a campaign against the Lisbon Treaty in the European Union, calling for a 'No' vote by the Irish on the referendum for the amendment of the Irish constitution to allow the adoption of the treaty. Dustin's campaign included the slogan "They didn't vote for us. Get them back. Vote 'No' to Lisbon", referring to his failure at Eurovision.[21]

RTÉ also announced that it was seeking a new television format for the turkey, targeting a more mature audience, but the show would not be in a chat-show format. Pilots were currently in production; however, RTÉ was not expected to air the show until 2009.[22]

See also

References
  1. Viniker, Barry (14 May 2007). "Ireland to follow Monaco out?". ESCToday. Retrieved 24 September 2008.
  2. Rendall, Alasdair (14 May 2007). "RTE look at the future participation". Oikotimes. Archived from the original on 10 February 2010. Retrieved 24 September 2008.
  3. McEvoy, Denis (3 October 2007). "RTE to return to the National Song Contest". Oikotimes. Archived from the original on 22 October 2007. Retrieved 24 September 2008.
  4. Krasilnikova, Anna (11 April 2007). "Ireland calls for Eurovision 2008 entries". ESCToday. Retrieved 24 September 2008.
  5. Konstantopoulos, Fotis (17 January 2008). "RTE to air national final from Limerick". Oikotimes. Archived from the original on 11 February 2010. Retrieved 24 September 2008.
  6. Murray, Gavin (22 January 2008). "Ireland selects on Saturday February 23rd". ESCToday. Retrieved 24 September 2008.
  7. "RTE kicks off song quest; changes in NF format". Oikotimes. 2 November 2007. Archived from the original on 11 February 2010. Retrieved 24 September 2008.
  8. Viniker, Barry (3 February 2008). "Ireland: songs and running order confirmed". ESCToday. Retrieved 25 September 2008.
  9. Royston, Benny (22 February 2008). "Ireland: Can anyone stop the Turkey?". Esctoday.
  10. Murray, Gavin (23 February 2008). "Live: Ireland National Final (transcript)". ESCToday. Retrieved 27 September 2008.
  11. "IRISH NATIONAL FINAL 2008".
  12. Viniker, Barry (28 September 2007). "Eurovision: 2 semi finals confirmed!". ESCToday. Archived from the original on 11 October 2007. Retrieved 25 September 2008.
  13. Viniker, Barry (28 January 2008). "The Eurovision Song Contest semi final draw". ESCToday. Retrieved 25 September 2008.
  14. Murray, Gavin (25 February 2008). "Exclusive: Dana speaks out to esctoday.com about Dustin". ESCToday. Retrieved 25 September 2008.
  15. Viniker, Barry (24 February 2008). "Does Dustin's song break the Eurovision rules?". ESCToday. Retrieved 25 September 2008.
  16. Jiandani, Sanjay (12 February 2008). "Dustin The Turkey invades Spanish press!". ESCToday. Retrieved 25 September 2008.
  17. Murray, Gavin (17 March 2008). "Ireland: Dustin the Turkey on UK television". ESCToday. Retrieved 25 September 2008.
  18. Murray, Gavin. "Ireland: Eurovision week schedule of events on RTÉ". ESCToday. Retrieved 29 September 2008.
  19. Murray, Gavin (25 March 2008). "Ireland: Dustin to change Eurovision performance lyrics". ESCToday. Retrieved 25 September 2008.
  20. Eurovision Song Contest Semi-final 1 (20 May 2008). Radio Telefís Éireann. Retrieved on 2008-09-24.
  21. Murray, Gavin (12 June 2008). "Ireland: Dustin says 'No' to EU treaty". ESCToday. Retrieved 26 September 2008.
  22. Davies, Russell (8 September 2008). "Ireland: New TV show for Dustin?". ESCToday. Retrieved 25 September 2008.

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