Ireland: RTE to select its Eurovision 2020 act internally

The Irish national broadcaster, RTE, has decided to select the country’s Eurovision 2020 entry through an internal selection.

The RTE officials are in seek for experienced composers and young ambitioned acts that will want to present their talent in front of the the biggest TV music show audience. The submission wndow has already opened and will be closing by October 25, 2019. The songs that will be received will be asssessed by a jury of music experts. However the broadcaster reserves the right to approach another artist or composer . This formula will be the one RTE will follow for the next three years.

The Irish Eurovision Story so far

Last time RTE held a national final was in 2015 while it has opted for internal selections since 2016. The country however managed to reach the grand final only in 2018 since it has been selecting internaly its representatives

Ireland is a country of records when it comes to the Eurovison Song Contest. It participated for the first time in 1965 and has won the competition 7 times, more than any other country. (1970, 1980, 1988, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1996).

It is the only country that has won the contest three successive years (1992, 1993, 1994) while Dublin is the only city to have hosted the event two consecutive years. (1994,1995). During the decade of 90’s the country had a row of 4 vicotries in a 5 year time  (1993, 1994, 1995 and 1997) and Dublin became host city three times.Irish act Johnny Logan is the only one to have won the contest twice (1980, 1987).

In 2018 the country selected internally  Ryan O’Shaughnessy to represent the country with his song Together, which finished 16th in the grand final.This year  Sarah McTernan represented the country with her entry “22″, but failed to reach the final as she came 18th in the 2nd semi final with 16 points.