Ireland in the Eurovision Song Contest 2015

Background

Prior to the 2015 Contest, Ireland had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest forty-eight times since its first entry in 1965. Ireland has won the contest a 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 (in 1992, 1993 and 1994), as well as having the only three-time winner (Johnny Logan, who won in 1980 as a singer, 1987 as a singer-songwriter, and again in 1992 as a songwriter). For the past four years, Ireland's national final format, Eurosong, had used a mentor system which involved five music professionals being appointed to seek out an artist and song for a televised competition in order to select the Irish entry. 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, while in 2014 Ireland missed the final entirely with Can-Linn featuring Kasey Smith and the song "Heartbeat".

RTÉ confirmed on 20 May 2014 that Ireland would participate in the 2015 Eurovision Song Contest. On 13 October 2014, the broadcaster announced the organisation of Eurosong 2015 with an open call for entry submissions indicating the abandonment of the mentor system.

Eurosong 2015

Eurosong 2015 was the national final format developed by RTÉ in order to select Ireland's entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2015. The competition was broadcast as a special edition of The Late Late Show held on 27 February 2015 and hosted by Ryan Tubridy.

Format

The competition differed from the previous four years. A public entry submission process replaced the mentor system, which previously involved five music professionals each selecting one entry for the competition. Five artists and songs were selected to compete. A 50/50 combination of regional jury voting and public televoting determined the winner.

Competing entries

Artists and composers were able to submit their entries for the competition between 13 and 31 October 2014. At the closing of the deadline, over 300 entries were received. The competing entries were selected through two phases involving two separate jury panels with members appointed by RTÉ; the first phase involved a jury panel reviewing all of the submissions and shortlisting 40 to 50 entries, while the second phase involved an alternate jury selecting the five finalists for the competition. The finalists were presented on 9 February 2015 on The Ray D'Arcy Show broadcast on RTÉ Radio 1.

Final

The national final featured commentary from a panel that consisted of composer Phil Coulter, singer and former contest winner Linda Martin, presenter Mairead Farrell and drag artist Panti Bliss. Guest performers included Niamh Kavanagh, Paul Harrington and Linda Martin. After the combination of votes from the five regional juries and the public televoting, "Playing with Numbers" performed by Molly Sterling was selected as the winner.

At Eurovision

According to Eurovision rules, all nations with the exceptions of the host country and the "Big 5" (France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom) 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. In the 2015 contest, Australia also competed directly in the final as an invited guest nation. The European Broadcasting Union (EBU) split up the competing countries into five different pots based on voting patterns from previous contests, with countries with favourable voting histories put into the same pot. On 26 January 2015, 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, to be held on 21 May 2015, and was scheduled to perform in the first half of the show.

Once all the competing songs for the 2015 contest had been released, the running order for the semi-finals was decided by the shows' producers rather than through another draw, so that similar songs were not placed next to each other. Ireland was set to perform in position 2, following the entry from Lithuania and before the entry from San Marino.

In Ireland, the semi-finals were broadcast on RTÉ2 and the final was broadcast on RTÉ One with commentary by Marty Whelan. The second semi-final and final were also broadcast via radio on RTÉ Radio 1 with commentary by Shay Byrne and Zbyszek Zalinski. The Irish spokesperson, who announced the Irish votes during the final, was Nicky Byrne.

Semi-final

Molly Sterling took part in technical rehearsals on 13 and 16 May, followed by dress rehearsals on 20 and 21 May. This included the jury final where professional juries of each country, responsible for 50 percent of each country's vote, watched and voted on the competing entries.

The stage show featured Molly Sterling performing seated at a piano and dressed in black, with a short leather sleeveless jacket and a lace top underneath. On stage she was joined by backing vocalists and an ensemble of musicians: a cellist, drummer and bass player. The background LED screens displayed scenic images of a sunlit forest. The musicians and backing vocalists that joined Sterling on stage were Jimmy Rainsford, Darren Sweeney, Naomi Clarke, Póilín Lynch and Jessica Supple.

At the end of the show, Ireland failed to qualify to the final and was not announced among the top ten nations. It was later revealed that Ireland placed twelfth in the semi-final, receiving a total of 35 points.

Voting

Voting during the three shows consisted of 50 percent public televoting and 50 percent from a jury deliberation. The jury consisted of five music industry professionals who were citizens of the country they represent, with their names published before the contest to ensure transparency. This jury was asked to judge each contestant based on: vocal capacity; the stage performance; the song's composition and originality; and the overall impression by the act. In addition, no member of a national jury could be related in any way to any of the competing acts in such a way that they cannot vote impartially and independently. The individual rankings of each jury member were released shortly after the grand final.

Following the release of the full split voting by the EBU after the conclusion of the competition, it was revealed that Ireland had placed sixteenth with the public televote and seventh with the jury vote in the second semi-final. In the public vote, Ireland scored 14 points, while with the jury vote, Ireland scored 84 points.

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:

Split voting results

The following five members comprised the Irish jury: