Ireland in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest

Ireland in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest
Republic of Ireland
Participating broadcasterTG4
Participation summary
Appearances9
First appearance2015
Highest placement4th: 2022
Participation history
External links
Ireland's page at JuniorEurovision.tv Edit this at Wikidata
For the most recent participation see
Ireland in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2024

Ireland has participated in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest nine times since their first appearance at the 2015 contest. Irish-language broadcaster TG4 has been responsible for the country's participation in the contest, and organises a televised national final Junior Eurovision Éire to select the Irish entries. TG4 did not participate in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but returned to the contest in 2021.[1]

Since their debut, Ireland has placed in the top 10 twice: in 2016 when the song "Bríce ar bhríce" performed by Zena Donnelly placed 10th out of 17 participating countries, and in 2022 when "Solas" by Sophie Lennon placed 4th out of 16 participants.[2]

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.[3]

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,[4] TG4 announced in August 2020 that they would not participate in the contest due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[5] 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.[6] The show was hosted by Eoghan McDermott from 2015 to 2019.[7] 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.[8][9]

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

Participation overview

Table key
◁ Last place
Year Artist 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 Sophie Lennon "Solas" Irish 4 150
2023 Jessica McKean "Aisling" Irish 16 ◁ 42
2024 Enya Cox Dempsey "Le chéile" Irish 15 55

Commentators and spokespersons

The contests are broadcast online worldwide through the official Junior Eurovision Song Contest website junioreurovision.tv and YouTube. In 2015, the online broadcasts featured commentary in English by junioreurovision.tv editor Luke Fisher and 2011 Bulgarian Junior Eurovision Song Contest entrant Ivan Ivanov.[10] The Irish broadcaster, TG4, sent their own commentators to the contest in order to provide commentary in the Irish language. Spokespersons were also chosen by the national broadcaster in order to announce the awarding points from France. The table below list the details of each commentator and spokesperson since 2015.

Year(s) Commentator Spokesperson Ref.
2015 Stiofán Ó Fearail and Caitlín Nic Aoidh Anna Banks
[11]
2016 Eoghan McDermott Andrea Leddy
2017 Walter McCabe
2018 Mícheál Ó Ciaraidh and Sinéad Ní Uallacháin Alex Hynes
[12]
2019 Sinéad Ní Uallacháin Leo Kearney
[13]
2020 No broadcast Did not participate N/A
2021 Louise Cantillon Reuben Levi Hackett
[14]
2022 Sinéad Ní Uallacháin Holly Lennon
[15]
2023 Louisa McKean
[16]
2024 TBA
[17]

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. 2021-02-09. Archived from the original on 2021-02-09. Retrieved 2021-02-09.
  2. ^ "Ireland's Sophie Lennon comes fourth in Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2022". rte.ie. RTÉ. 11 December 2022. Retrieved 12 December 2022.
  3. ^ Granger, Anthony (22 May 2014). "Ireland: TG4 Fails To Get BAI Funding For JESC". eurovoix.com. Eurovoix. Retrieved 22 May 2014.
  4. ^ Herbert, Emily (14 January 2020). "Ireland: Junior Eurovision 2020 Participation Confirmed". Eurovoix. Retrieved 26 July 2020.
  5. ^ Farren, Neil (4 August 2020). "Ireland: Withdraws from Junior Eurovision 2020". Eurovoix. Retrieved 4 August 2020.
  6. ^ Granger, Anthony (17 February 2019). "Ireland: TG4 Confirms Participation in Junior Eurovision 2019". Eurovoix. Retrieved 27 July 2020.
  7. ^ Farren, Neil (16 August 2019). "Ireland: Junior Eurovision Éire 2019 to Start on September 1". Eurovoix. Retrieved 27 July 2020.
  8. ^ Granger, Anthony (31 July 2019). "Ireland: Changes To The Format of Junior Eurovision Éire". Eurovoix. Retrieved 27 July 2020.
  9. ^ Farren, Neil (6 October 2019). "Ireland: Anna Kearney to Junior Eurovision 2019". Eurovoix. Retrieved 27 July 2020.
  10. ^ Fisher, Luke James (21 November 2015). "Tonight: Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2015!". Junior Eurovision Song Contest – Bulgaria 2015. Retrieved 21 November 2015.
  11. ^ 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 Irish). Retrieved 22 November 2015 – via Twitter.
  12. ^ Granger, Anthony (21 November 2018). "Ireland: Mícheál Ó Ciarradh and Sinéad Ní Uallacháin to Commentate on Junior Eurovision". Eurovoix. Retrieved 21 November 2018.
  13. ^ Filippidou, Ifigeneia (24 November 2019). "These are the Junior Eurovision 2019 spokespersons". esc-plus.com. Retrieved 26 November 2019.
  14. ^ Farren, Neil (17 December 2021). "🇮🇪 Ireland: Junior Eurovision 2021 Spokesperson and Commentator Revealed". eurovoix. Retrieved 17 December 2021.
  15. ^ "TG4, Sceideal an Lae Irish Television Channel, Súil Eile" (in Irish). 1 December 2022. Archived from the original on 1 December 2022. Retrieved 1 December 2022.
  16. ^ "TG4 | Sceideal an Lae | Sceideal | Irish Television Chanel, Súil Eile". TG4. Archived from the original on 2023-11-17. Retrieved 2023-11-17.
  17. ^ "TG4 | Daily Schedule | Saturday November 16th 2024". TG4 (in English and Irish). 2024-11-06. Archived from the original on 2024-11-06. Retrieved 2024-11-06.