Ireland in the Eurovision Song Contest 2008


Ireland participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2008 after Radio Telefís Éireann 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.
At Eurovision, he placed 15th in the semi-final, failing to qualify for the final of the contest.

Background

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, as well as having the only three-times winner. 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 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

Eurosong 2008

Eurosong 2008 was the Irish national final that replaced 2007's selection process for 2008. 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." RTÉ reached a consensus and agreed to change the selection process and revert to the "National Song Contest" format that was used in Ireland before 2001, resulting in seven Irish winners. The contest will not only take quality into account, but also the visual presentation and proposed performance details of the finalists.
The competition was held at the University Concert Hall in Limerick on 23 February 2008 and was 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.

Competing entries

RTÉ opened a submission period until 23 January 2008 for artists and composers to submit their entries. 150 entries were submitted, with many of them being written by previous Irish national final songwriters, including Karl Broderick, Niall Mooney and Marc Roberts. A six-member jury panel, which included Irish Eurovision winner Linda Martin, selected six finalists for the competition, which were revealed on 3 February 2008. Among the competing artists were children's television presenter/puppet Dustin the Turkey and former Irish Eurovision entrant Marc Roberts.

Donal Skehan

Dustin the Turkey

Maja

Leona Daly

Liam Geddes

Marc Roberts

Final

The final took place on 23 February 2008. Six entries competed in the final and the winner, "Irelande Douze Pointe" performed by Dustin the Turkey, was determined solely by public televoting and SMS voting. Voting was also open for residents of Northern Ireland. During the final, an expert panel consisting of Louis Walsh, Dana Rosemary Scallon and Marija Šerifović also provided commentary and feedback to the artists.
The interval act of the contest was of jury member Marija Šerifović singing "Molitva", the winning song of the Eurovision Song Contest 2007. After Dustin the Turkey was announced as the winner, he closed the show singing his song: "Irelande Douze Pointe".

At Eurovision

According to Eurovision rules, all nations with the exceptions of the host country and the "Big 4" 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. 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.
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. 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. 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.
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.

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 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.
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. 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

Semi-final 1

Final

12 points10 points8 points7 points6 points

5 points4 points3 points2 points1 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.
    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.