:: Eurovision 24 :: Oslo 2010

Well it's over, and I don't think anyone is surprised, but Dustin the Turkey will represent Ireland in May. The result was greeted by audible booing throughout the arena in Limerick. The winner was chosen by a public vote with the mixture of televoting and sms/texting. Ireland is the most successful country in the Eurovision Song Contest with a record 7 wins, clocking up a 3 in a row victory in 1992, 1993 and 1994. However after hosting the competition in 1997, this has dramatically changed: the country was disappointingly relegated in 2002, didn't make the final in 2005 and finished last, last May in Helsinki 2007. In Serbia, Ireland will compete in the first semi-final on May 20th 2008, in the hope their luck might change! Clearly angered by the result, Ireland's first winner, the country's first Eurovision Song Contest winner, Dana, said that "the people had voted but it was a fowl decision". Earlier in the evening she said that if Ireland sends Dus

Tonight, Ireland will choose its representative for the 2008 Eurovision Song Contest. Six acts will compete for the ticket to Belgrade. The show starts at 20:00 CET and will be hosted by Ray D'Acry live at the University Concert Hall in Limmerick. The public will select the song using a mix of televote and SMS. A webcast will be provided here . The line-up Double Cross My Heart - Donal Skehan (Joel Humlen, Oscar Gorres and Charlie Mason) Irelande Douze Points - Dustin The Turkey (Darren Smith, Simon Fine and Dustin The Turkey) Time to Rise - Maya (Maja Slatinsek and Ziga Pirnat) Not Crazy After All - Leona (Leona Daly and Steve Booker) Sometimes - Liam Geddes (Susan Hewitt) Chances - Marc Roberts (Marc Roberts) Ireland finished last in the final of the Eurovision Song Contest for the first time in 2007. In 2008, the country will take part in the first semi final on 20th May.

The recent troubles in Belgrade has led to increasing speculation that the Eurovision Song Contest may be moved from the city. Tonight, after high level talks at the EBU, an official EBU statement has been released. The 53rd Eurovision Song Contest will take place as planned in Serbia, and host broadcaster, RTS will obtain a security guarantee from the Governement on behalf of all participants and visitors. The EBU statement, signed by Bjørn Erichsen, Director of Eurovision TV and Svante Stockselius, Eurovision Song Contest Executive Supervisor: "The European Broadcasting Union has of course closely been following the recent development in Serbia and has been in close contact with the organizers of Host Broadcaster RTS. We concluded that the recent irregularities in Belgrade will not cause any delays in the planning of the 2008 Eurovision Song Contest, or complications during the event in May. The EBU has no plans to move the 53rd Eurovision Song Contest from Belgrade. Having comp

Serbian newspaper Blic publish today that the most possible host for Eurovision 2008 is Jovana who also hosted the draw show, which took place on 28 th of January. Jovana was asked about this and states that “I am really not familiar with the information that I will host the “Eurovision” program. [ESC Time]

We mentioned earlier, a possible venue change for the Eurovision Song Contest due to current problems in Belgrade. Kjell Ekholm, the Eurovision Song Contest Event Manager in 2007, has put Helsinki forward as a possible back-up location. According to Estonian news website, Sloleht, Mr. Ekholm hopes that the Eurovision Song Contest can take place in Belgrade. If that is not possible, he says that Finland could become an option with much of the knowledge and experience of hosting the competition last year coming into play. He is also a member of the EBU Eurovision Song Contest Reference Group and much of the infrastructure from 2007 is still in place. Do you think Helsinki should be the backup city? UPDATE: It is believed that Malmo, Sweden is being considered since it has experience in hosting big events, and was considered as an option in 2005 when problems occurred with Ukraine. Ukraine is being considered an option since they came second in Eurovision Song Contest 2007, but th

After announcements earlier in the week by Serbian media that RTS morning program anchor woman Jovana Janković is closest to being the female part of the Eurovision host couple it seems now there is another strong contender. As newspapers Blic report Maja Nikoli ć (host of the recent reality show “Euro Face” where the host for Beovizija was chosen) is also one of the favorites. In a poll conducted by Blic 34% wanted to see Maja Nikolić as the host. Some 18% wanted to see Jovana Janković as the host while Serbian actress Ana Sofrenović came in third. The recent news about who will become the host has interestingly become one of the most debated and most popular news stories in Serbia. However it seems only women are of interest in Serbia as there has been no talk of who could be the male host. If Maja Nikolić does become the host it might mean that actor Branislav Trifunović (co-host of “Euro Face”) could become the male host. Maja and Branislav had very good chemistry on set. Blic

Tomorrow night, Ireland will choose one of six competing acts to represent the seven-time winning nation at the 2008 Eurovision Song Contest. Yesterday, the songs were debuted on RTE Radio's Mooney show. The six songs are: Double Cross My Heart - Donal Skehan (Joel Humlen, Oscar Gorres and Charlie Mason) Irelande Douze Points - Dustin The Turkey (Darren Smith, Simon Fine and Dustin The Turkey) Time to Rise - Maya (Maja Slatinsek and Ziga Pirnat) Not Crazy After All - Leona (Leona Daly and Steve Booker) Sometimes - Liam Geddes (Susan Hewitt) Chances - Marc Roberts (Marc Roberts) SOUND FILES Donal Shekan - "Double Cross My Heart" Dustin The Turkey - "Irelande Douze Points" Maya - "Time To Rise" Leona Daly - "Not Crazy After All" Liam Geddes - "Sometimes" Marc Roberts - "Chances" One of the most controversial songs to enter a national final this year is Irelande Douze Points b

Gylenneskor.se, have stated that a telephone conference between senior EBU officials and reference group members will take place this morning to discuss security concerns about hosting the Eurovision Song Contest in Belgrade after the violence that has occurred in the city over the passed days. Of main concern is the attacks on foreign embassies by a tiny minority of hooligans yesterday evening. Attacks on foreign buildings and potential harm to foreign nationals is a major concern for the Eurovision Song Contest organisers with thousands of officials from 42 delegations and fans travelling to Belgrade for the competition in May. Whilst the EBU has yet to confirm that there are any discussions about the possibility of moving the contest to an alternative venue, they are watching developments very closely. Fans planning to travel to the contest are increasingly concerned about personal security issues. [Source: ESCToday.com]

RTÉ will live broadcasting on RTÉ television on RTÉ ONE and LIVE transmission on the web at www.rte.ie/live at 20:00 CET (19:00 local time) and 22:45 CET (21:45 local time) this coming Saturday 23rd February 2008. Also, confirmation has been given from RTÉ that www.eurovision.tv will have a webcast available there also. Over the past few weeks eurovision fans worldwide have been talking and gossiping over the eagerly anticipated Irish Eurosong National Final with one act in particular making headlines in european and worldwide media as far off as the USA and Australia. Who is it? or should we say What is it? Who knows what surprises await us this Saturday night, but RTÉ are remaining very secretive on the issue and are giving away very little on what we might see or hear. One source heard that Marija Serifovic (winner Eurovision Song Contest 2007 for Serbia) will be there on the night, judging the finalists' performances, with Linda Martin (winner Eurovision Song Contest 1992)

There's no question that for one reason or another, Ireland's Eurosong 2008, has become the most discussed and reported on Irish Eurovision selection show in decades and apparently there's a waiting list for returned tickets in Limerick's University Concert Hall, for those that missed them a couple of weeks ago. Irish Eurovision fans should watch "The Late Late Show" tonight February 15th at 21:30 loal time (22:30 CET), to get a glimpse of the six finalists competing in this year's Irish selection. This will be the first time that the performers have all appeared together in public together, since they were announced by RTÉ, and given the controversy and debate that has happened since, it should be well worth tuning in. While they won't be performing their potential Eurovision entries, all six performers will be interpreting Ireland's Eurovision Song Contest 1980 winner "What's Another Year". allkindsofeverything.ie has been told tha

Surprisingly, well to me anyway, RTE will broadcast both Semi-Finals and Grand Final of the Eurovision Song Contest 2008. Ireland is drawn to compete in the Eurovision Song Contest 2008 on Tuesday 20th May, RTÉ must broadcast this the first Semi-final. However according to the EBU, broadcasters have the option not to broadcast the other semi-final in which they do not participate in. Nevertheless, according to head of delegtion for Ireland, Julian Vignoles, RTÉ will be broadcasting both semi-finals on Tuesday 20th May, Thursday 22nd May and the Grand Final on Saturday 24th May live from Belgrade, Serbia. [esctoday.com]

Oikotimes.com reports that the EBU has confirmed that Scotland can enter their own Eurovision entry, if they want to. Under EBU rules any member of the union can submit an entry, opening the door from a possible entry by STV, Scotland's commercial broadcaster, or even BBC's own Scotland divison. The result for the historic nation comes after repeated pressure from SNP (Scottish Nationalist Party) MEP Alan Smyth, who's said "Other small countries have done it and I will be happy to help any of the broadcasting companies through the process". Although this may seem a strange move, don't forget that in many international sporting events, like football and rugby, England and Scotland (along with Wales and Northern Ireland) compete as independent nations. A spokesman for the SNP run Scottish government has said "there's no reason why we can't bring the idea of a song for Europe into our conversation on Scotland's future". So if Scotland d

"So it's looking very much like Dustin the Turkey is going to be our entrant in the Eurovision. Of course, if he won it, he wouldn't be the first bird with a big beak and a nasal twang to do well in that contest." Read Brendan O' Connor's witty insight into Dustin becoming Ireland's Eurovision entry (which is highly likely!) Read the Article>>

One of Ireland's most popular daily radio programmes, Liveline, a severe backlash against RTE's decision to allow the puppet, Dustin, to enter the national final. Joe Duffy, the show's presenter, will be familiar to some Eurovision fans already. In 2003 he lead the claims of plagiarism of the 2000 ESC winner by the Irish entry of that year. On the matter of Dustin's entry, several Eurovsion linked writers were very vocal in their outrage. Frank McNamara, who was the musical director of the Late Late Show for 20 years began the criticism of the juries decision to progress the children's puppet's song to the final of Eurosong 2008. He was closely joined by Shay Healy, who wrote the 1980 Eurovision Song Cotest winner. Shay's argument was extremely sarcastic to begin with, and it soon became apparent that he was totally disgusted by RTE's decision. Then another Eurovision winner added his voice to the chorus of complaints. Phil Coulter (composer of UK 1967