Ireland in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest

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Ireland
Republic of Ireland
Member stationTG4
National selection events
National final
  • Junior Eurovision Éire
  • 2015–2018
  • 2019 (artist)
  • 2021–2022 (artist)
Internal selection
  • 2019 (song)
  • 2021–2022 (song)
Participation summary
Appearances6
First appearance2015
Highest placement10th: 2016
External links
Ireland's page at JuniorEurovision.tv
Song contest current event.png For the most recent participation see
Ireland in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2021

Ireland has participated in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest five times since their first appearance in the 2015 contest. The Irish language broadcaster, TG4, is responsible for the country's participation in the contest, and uses the national final Junior Eurovision Éire to select the Irish entries.

Since their debut in 2015, Ireland has achieved one top ten placing, in 2016 when the song "Bríce ar bhríce" performed by Zena Donnelly placed 10th. TG4 withdrew from the contest in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but returned to the contest in 2021.[1]

Although Ireland has also English as a co-official language, their entries have to be sung mainly in Irish due to being represented by an Irish language broadcaster.

History[]

TG4 originally intended to make their debut in the 2014 contest in Marsa, Malta, but required funding from the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland, which was rejected.[2]

Ireland debuted in the contest when TG4 participated in the 2015 contest in Sofia, Bulgaria, when the song "Réalta na mara" performed by Aimee Banks placed 12th in a field of 17 countries.

Despite having initially confirmed their participation in the 2020 contest in Warsaw, Poland in January 2020,[3] TG4 announced in August 2020 that they would not participate in the contest due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[4] In February 2021, TG4 confirmed their participation in the 2021 contest in France.[1]

Junior Eurovision Éire[]

Junior Eurovision Éire is an Irish television show which has served as Ireland's national final for the Junior Eurovision Song Contest since the country's debut in 2015.[5] The show was hosted by Eoghan McDermott from 2015-2019.[6] Between 2015 and 2018, the show selected both the song and the artist, while in 2019 and 2021 the show selected only the artist, and the song was selected internally.[7][8]

McDermott stepped down from the programme in 2021, and was replaced by Louise Cantillon.

Participation overview[]

Year Entrant Song Language Place Points
2015
 Aimee Banks "Réalta na mara" Irish[a] 12 36
2016
 Zena Donnelly "Bríce ar bhríce" Irish, English 10 122
2017
 Muireann McDonnell "Súile glasa" Irish 15 54
2018
 Taylor Hynes "IOU" Irish 15 48
2019
 Anna Kearney "Banshee" Irish 12 73
2021
 Maiú Levi Lawlor "Saor (Disappear)" Irish[b] 18 44
2022
 Confirmed intention to participate †[9]

Commentators and spokespersons[]

Year(s) Commentator Spokesperson Ref.
2015 Stiofán Ó Fearail and Caitlín Nic Aoidh Anna Banks
[10]
2016 Eoghan McDermott Andrea Leddy
2017 Walter McCabe
2018 Mícheál Ó Ciaraidh and Sinéad Ní Uallacháin Alex Hynes
[11]
2019 Sinéad Ní Uallacháin Leo Kearney
[12]
2020 No broadcast Did not participate
2021 Louise Cantillon Reuben Levi Hackett
[13]

Gallery[]

  • Aimee Banks during the rehearsals in Sofia (2015)

  • Zena Donnelly during the rehearsals in Valletta (2016)

  • Taylor Hynes during the rehearsals in Minsk (2018)

  • Anna Kearney during the rehearsals in Gliwice (2019)

See also[]

Notes and references[]

Notes[]

  1. ^ Contains one phrase in Latin.
  2. ^ Contains one repeated phrase in English and phrases in French

References[]

  1. ^ a b "Junior Eurovision 2021". tg4.ie. TG4. 2021-02-09. Archived from the original on 2021-02-09. Retrieved 2021-02-09.
  2. ^ Granger, Anthony (22 May 2014). "Ireland: TG4 Fails To Get BAI Funding For JESC". eurovoix.com. Eurovoix. Retrieved 22 May 2014.
  3. ^ Herbert, Emily (14 January 2020). "Ireland: Junior Eurovision 2020 Participation Confirmed". Eurovoix. Retrieved 26 July 2020.
  4. ^ Farren, Neil (4 August 2020). "Ireland: Withdraws from Junior Eurovision 2020". Eurovoix. Retrieved 4 August 2020.
  5. ^ Granger, Anthony (17 February 2019). "Ireland: TG4 Confirms Participation in Junior Eurovision 2019". Eurovoix. Retrieved 27 July 2020.
  6. ^ Farren, Neil (16 August 2019). "Ireland: Junior Eurovision Éire 2019 to Start on September 1". Eurovoix. Retrieved 27 July 2020.
  7. ^ Granger, Anthony (31 July 2019). "Ireland: Changes To The Format of Junior Eurovision Éire". Eurovoix. Retrieved 27 July 2020.
  8. ^ Farren, Neil (6 October 2019). "Ireland: Anna Kearney to Junior Eurovision 2019". Eurovoix. Retrieved 27 July 2020.
  9. ^ Farren, Neil (8 February 2022). "Ireland: Junior Eurovision 2022 Participation Confirmed". Eurovoix.
  10. ^ Nic Aoidh, Caitlín [@CaitlinNicAoidh] (21 November 2015). "Mise & @stiofanofearail réidh do chomórtas na hoíche anocht. @TG4TV #jesc2015 Bígí ag tacú leí ag úsáid #GoAimee" (Tweet) (in Ga). Retrieved 22 November 2015 – via Twitter.
  11. ^ Granger, Anthony (21 November 2018). "Ireland: Mícheál Ó Ciarradh and Sinéad Ní Uallacháin to Commentate on Junior Eurovision". Eurovoix. Retrieved 21 November 2018.
  12. ^ Filippidou, Ifigeneia (24 November 2019). "These are the Junior Eurovision 2019 spokespersons". esc-plus.com. Retrieved 26 November 2019.
  13. ^ Farren, Neil (17 December 2021). "