It was unknown for some time how Radio Telefís Éireann, the Irish broadcaster would select the Irish entry for the 2009 Eurovision Song Contest. RTÉ had had plans to have a large-scale national final like that of last year's contest. However the current financial situation in Ireland have made this impossible, and it was debatable whether a national final would be held at all, with an internal selection by RTÉ to be held instead. Despite this, RTÉ were set to have a national final for their selection, which were to be broadcast as a special edition of The Late Late Show, similar to that seen in 2006 and 2007, to be held on 20 February 2009. Although a national final was to be planned, it was rumoured that RTÉ were in the middle of talks with three-time former winner Johnny Logan. It had been rumoured that, in exchange for his own television show, Logan would return to Eurovision and represent Ireland at the 2009 contest in Moscow. Logan had previously said that he would have represented Ireland at the 2007 contest, however a deal between Logan and RTÉ was not reached at that time. Eoghan Quigg, who came third in the 2008 series of The X Factor, has also stated that he would like to represent Ireland at Eurovision. RTÉ officially confirmed that a national final, called Eurosong 2009, would be held to choose the Irish representative for the Eurovision Song Contest 2009, and that no internal selection would be held. Like in 2006 and 2007, this was to be held on 20 February 2009 on a special edition of The Late Late Show.
Format
, host of The Late Late Show and of Eurosong 2009, revealed that six artists and songs will compete in the national final, where the winner will be determined by a 50/50 combination of a public vote and the votes of regional juries in Ireland.
Competing entries
Artists and composers were able to submit their entries for the competition until 2 February 2009. Over 300 entries were submitted, and a jury panel, headed by Irish Eurovision winner Linda Martin, selected six finalists for the competition, which were revealed on 13 February 2009. The songs were premiered on 19 February 2009 on The Derek Mooney Show, broadcast on RTÉ Radio 1. The first entry to be confirmed to be competing at Eurosong 2009 was "I Wish I Could Pretend" performed by Latvian singer Kristīna Zaharova. The song, composed by Lauris Reiniks and Gordon Pogoda, was initially included in the line-up of the 2009 Latvian national final, however was also submitted for the Irish selection. Reiniks therefore decided to withdraw his song from the Latvian selection in favour for the Irish national final.
Final
The final took place on 20 February 2009. Six entries competed and the winner, "Et Cetera" performed by Sinéad Mulvey and Black Daisy, was determined by the 50/50 combination of a public vote and a regional jury vote from four regions in Ireland: Sligo, Dublin, Cork and Limerick. Each jury region awarded 10, 8, 6, 4, 2 and 1 point to their top 6 songs, while the public vote awarded 40, 32, 24, 16, 8 and 4 points to their top 6 songs. An expert panel consisting of Marty Whelan, Linda Martin and Jerry Springer also provided commentary and feedback to the artists.
Before Eurovision
It had not been planned by RTÉ to have a large promotional campaign of the Irish entry, due to budget constraints. However Sinéad and Black Daisy performed twice for an international audience; at the Eurovision Promo Concert in Amsterdam, Netherlands on 18 April, and also at the UKEurovision Preview Party in London on 17 April. Before heading to Moscow, Sinéad and Black Daisy once again performed on The Late Late Show on 1 May. RTÉ also broadcast the EBU "Eurovision: Countdown" preview shows before the week of the contest.
At Eurovision
Since Ireland was not one of the "Big Four" and is not the host of the 2009 contest, it had to compete in one of the two semi-finals. Sinéad and Black Daisy competed in the second semi-final on 14 May, where they performed second in the running order, following Croatia and preceding Latvia. The group failed to qualify Ireland to the final for the second consecutive time. In the final of the contest, the Irish votes were presented by Irish TV personality Derek Mooney, who previously did the same in 2000. RTÉ released the names of the five jurors which made up half of the Irish votes in the final, along with televoting. They were former Eurovision winners Linda Martin and Paul Harrington, producer Bill Hughes, singer and TV personality Emma O'Driscoll and singer/songwriter Luan Parle.
