Ireland participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2017 with the song "Dying to Try", sung by Brendan Murray and written by Jörgen Elofsson and James Newman. The song and the singer were internally selected in December 2016 by the Irish broadcaster Raidió Teilifís Éireann to represent the nation at the 2017 contest in Kiev, Ukraine. Ireland was drawn to compete in the second semi-final of the Eurovision Song Contest which took place on 11 May 2017. Performing during the show in position 9, "Dying to Try" was not announced among the top 10 entries of the second semi-final and therefore did not qualify to compete in the final. This is the fourth year in a row that Ireland has failed to qualify for the final.
Background
Prior to the 2016 Contest, Ireland had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 49 times since its first entry in. Ireland has won the contesta record seven times in total. 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, as well as having the only three-time winner. 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 2000, placing eighth in 2011 with the song "Lipstick". However, in 2013, despite managing to qualify to the final, Ryan Dolan and his song "Only Love Survives" placed last in the final. The Irish entries in 2014, "Heartbeat" performed by Can-Linn featuring Kasey Smith, in 2015, "Playing with Numbers" performed by Molly Sterling and in 2016 "Sunlight" performed by Nicky Byrne all failed to qualify to the final.
Before Eurovision
Internal selection
On 16 December 2016, Louis Walsh announced during his appearance on The Late Late Show that he was in charge of the 2017 Irish entry and had chosen the former member of boyband HomeTown, Brendan Murray, to represent Ireland in Kiev. Walsh and Murray appeared on The Late Late Show on the same day. Murray also performed a rendition of "Hold Me Now" by Johnny Logan on guitar. Following this, an appeal was made for any songwriter across the country to send in a 3-minute song written by them for Walsh and Murray to choose for Eurovision. The song "Dying to Try" was presented on 10 March 2017.
At Eurovision
According to Eurovision rules, all nations with the exceptions of the host country and the "Big 5" are required to qualify from one of two semi-finals in order to compete for the final; the top ten countries from each semi-final progress to the final. The European Broadcasting Union split up the competing countries into six different pots based on voting patterns from previous contests, with countries with favourable voting histories put into the same pot. On 31 January 2017, a special allocation draw was held which placed each country into one of the two semi-finals, as well as which half of the show they would perform in. Ireland was placed into the second semi-final, held on 11 May 2017, and was scheduled to perform in the first half of the show. The song failed to qualify for the final, placing 13th in Semi Final 2 with 86 points.
Voting
Below is a breakdown of points awarded to Ireland and awarded by Ireland in the second semi-final and grand final of the contest, and the breakdown of the jury voting and televoting conducted during the two shows:
Points awarded to Ireland
Points awarded by Ireland
Split voting results
The following five members comprised the Irish jury:
Greg French – Chairperson – musical director, producer, composer
