Ireland participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2006 with the song "Every Song Is a Cry for Love" written and performed by Brian Kennedy, who was internally selected in November 2005 by the Irish broadcaster Raidió Teilifís Éireann (RTÉ) to represent the nation at the 2006 contest in Athens, Greece. RTÉ organised the national final Eurosong 2006 to select the song that Kennedy would perform. Three songs faced a public televote, ultimately resulting in the selection of "Every Song Is a Cry for Love" as the Irish entry.
Ireland competed in the semi-final of the Eurovision Song Contest which took place on 18 May 2006. Performing during the show in position 8, "Every Song Is a Cry for Love" was announced among the top 10 entries of the semi-final and therefore qualified to compete in the final on 20 May. It was later revealed that Ireland placed ninth out of the 23 participating countries in the semi-final with 79 points. In the final, Ireland performed in position 21 and placed tenth out of the 24 participating countries, scoring 93 points.
Background
Prior to the 2006 Contest, Ireland had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest thirty-nine times since its first entry in 1965. 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). The Irish entry in 2005, "Love?" performed by Donna and Joe, failed to qualify to the final and achieved Ireland's lowest position in the contest.
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 2006 Eurovision Song Contest on 17 July 2005. From 2003 to 2005, RTÉ had set up the talent contest You're a Star to choose both the song and performer to compete at Eurovision for Ireland. For the 2006 Eurovision Song Contest, RTÉ announced alongside their confirmation that You're a Star would not be used to choose the entry to represent Ireland at the contest, with executive producer of You're a Star Larry Bass stating that the contest "hasn't delivered in terms of what the Eurovision Song Contest has wanted". The broadcaster ultimately opted to internally select the artist with the song being chosen in a televised competition.
Before Eurovision
Artist selection
On 14 November 2005, the broadcaster announced that they had internally selected Brian Kennedy to represent Ireland in Athens. Along with the announcement that Kennedy would represent Ireland on 14 November, RTÉ announced that a national final would be held to select his song.
Eurosong 2006
On 14 November 2005, RTÉ opened a submission period where composers were able to submit their songs for the competition until 27 January 2006. At the closing of the deadline, over 1,000 songs were received. Four finalist songs were selected by a three-member jury panel appointed by RTÉ: writers Brendan Graham and Shay Healy as well as singer-songwriter Paul Brady. The songs were announced on 11 February 2006, one of them which was disqualified on 13 February for not meeting the EBU eligibility criteria: "Strong Enough" written by Barry Walsh. The national final, Eurosong 2006, was held on 17 February 2006 at the Studio 4 of RTÉ in Dublin, hosted by Pat Kenny and broadcast on RTÉ One as well as online via the broadcaster's official website rte.ie during a special edition of The Late Late Show. All three competing songs were performed by Brian Kennedy and "Every Song Is a Cry for Love" was selected as the winning song following a public televote. The show also featured guest performances from former contest winners Linda Martin, Niamh Kavanagh, Paul Harrington and Charlie McGettigan as well as commentary from a panel that consisted of Martin, commentator Marty Whelan and music manager Louis Walsh. "Every Song Is a Cry for Love" was later released on 21 April 2006, and eventually peaked at Number 4 on the Irish Singles Chart.