Eurosong 2006 - More controversy

Ever since singer Brian Kennedy was announced as a songwriter of one of the songs in next Friday night's competition, there has been a question overshadowing the selection process which chose the four songs. Irish Times journalist John Waters is the latest to let off steam on national radio.

On this afternoon's "Livelive" on RTE Radio 1, Waters who also two potential entries to the selection, was interviewed at length by Joe Duffy. Waters and other contributors to the show raised many interesting points regarding the potential conflict of interest for Brian Kennedy in singing other songs which are up against his own. Waters also pointed out that re-opening the song submission process gave an advantage to those who had extra time to work on their songs. However most interestingly the interview shed further light of the whole selection process which chose the four (now three) finalists.

Apparently only a faction of the songs submitted to RTÉ actually made to the panel of experts who were chosen to select the best songs. Instead there was apparently a pre-selection process which weeded out 90% of the entries. No one knows who was involved in this pre-selection, what criteria were used and why this information is only now being made public.

Given that over a thousand songs were submitted to RTÉ, it is hardly surprising that a form of pre-selection was used, but these questions remain to be answered by RTÉ. Either way, the it appears that this year's Irish Eurosong competition will not be short of media attention. You can hear the interview here.

From: AKOE