Ireland in the Eurovision Song Contest 2022

Eurovision Song Contest 2022
Country	Ireland
National selection
Selection process	Eurosong 2022
Selection date(s)	4 February 2022
Selected entrant	Brooke
Selected song	"That's Rich"
Selected songwriter(s)	Brooke Scullion Izzy Warner Karl Zine
Ireland in the Eurovision Song Contest
◄2021 • 2022

Ireland is set to participate in the Eurovision Song Contest 2022 in Turin, Italy with the song "That's Rich" performed by Brooke. The Irish broadcaster Raidió Teilifís Éireann (RTÉ) organised the national final Eurosong 2022 in order to select the Irish entry for the 2022 contest. Six songs faced the votes of a studio jury, an international jury and a public televote which determined the final selection.

Background[]

Prior to the 2022 contest, Ireland has participated in the Eurovision Song Contest fifty-three times since its first entry in 1965.^[1] 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). 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". Since 2013, only two Irish entries managed to qualify for the final: Ryan Dolan's "Only Love Survives" which placed 26th (last) in the final in 2013, and Ryan O'Shaughnessy's "Together" which placed 16th in the final in 2018. The Irish entry in 2021, "Maps" performed by Lesley Roy, once again failed to qualify to the final.

The Irish national broadcaster, Raidió Teilifís Éireann (RTÉ), broadcasts the event within Ireland and organises the selection process for the nation's entry. RTÉ confirmed their intentions to participate at the 2022 Eurovision Song Contest on 6 September 2021.^[2] From 2016 to 2021, RTÉ held an internal selection to choose the artist and song to represent Ireland at the contest. For the 2022 Eurovision Song Contest, RTÉ announced on 16 September 2021 the organisation of the national final Eurosong 2022 to choose the artist and song to represent Ireland at the contest.^[3][4] This marked the first time since 2015 that RTÉ had set up a national final to select both the artist and song for the contest.

Before Eurovision[]

Eurosong 2022[]

Eurosong 2022 was the national final format developed by RTÉ in order to select Ireland's entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2022. The competition was broadcast during a special edition of The Late Late Show held on 4 February 2022 and hosted by Ryan Tubridy.^[5][6]

Competing entries[]

On 16 September 2021, RTÉ opened a submission period where artists and composers were able to submit their entries for the competition until 22 October 2021. At the closing of the deadline, 320 entries were received.^[7] The competing entries were selected through two phases involving two separate jury panels with members appointed by RTÉ; the first phase involved a twelve-member jury panel reviewing all of the submissions and shortlisting 20 to 30 entries, while the second phase involved an alternate jury selecting the six finalists.^[8] The finalists were presented between 17 and 21 January 2022 on The Ryan Tubridy Show broadcast on RTÉ Radio 1.^[5][9]

Among the competing artists was Brendan Murray, who represented Ireland in the Eurovision Song Contest 2017.

Final[]

The national final featured commentary from a studio jury panel that consisted of singer-songwriter Caroline Corr, singer Lucia Evans, musician and former contest winner Paul Harrington and presenter Bláthnaid Treacy.^[10] Riverdance was the guest performer.^[11] Following the combination of votes from the studio jury, an international jury and public televoting, "That's Rich" performed by Brooke was selected as the winner.^[12][13] The international jury panel consisted of American journalist William Lee Adams, Árný Fjóla (member of 2021 Icelandic representatives Gagnamagnið), Czech screenwriter and former Head of Delegation Jan Frost Bors and Russian Head of Delegation Katerina Orlova.^[10]

At Eurovision[]

According to Eurovision rules, all nations with the exceptions of the host country and the "Big Five" (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. The European Broadcasting Union (EBU) 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 25 January 2022, an 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 has been placed into the second semi-final, to be held on 12 May 2022, and has been scheduled to perform in the second half of the show.^[15]

References[]