Ireland participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2008 with the song "Irelande Douze Pointe" written by Darren Smith, Simon Fine and Dustin the Turkey. The song was performed by children's show puppet Dustin the Turkey. The Irish broadcaster Raidió Teilifís Éireann (RTÉ) organised the national final Eurosong 2008 in order to select the Irish entry for the 2008 contest in Belgrade, Serbia. Six songs faced a public televote, ultimately resulting in the selection of "Irelande Douze Pointe" performed by Dustin the Turkey as the Irish Eurovision entry.
Ireland was drawn to compete in the first semi-final of the Eurovision Song Contest which took place on 20 May 2008. Performing during the show in position 11, "Irelande Douze Pointe" was not announced among the top 10 entries of the first semi-final and therefore did not qualify to compete in the final. It was later revealed that Ireland placed fifteenth out of the 19 participating countries in the semi-final with 22 points.
Background
Prior to the 2008 Contest, Ireland had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest forty-one 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 2007, "They Can't Stop the Spring" performed by Dervish, placed last in the final.
The Irish national broadcaster, Raidió Teilifís Éireann (RTÉ), broadcasts the event within Ireland and organises the selection process for the nation's entry. After placing last in 2007, Tara O'Brien, RTÉ spokesperson, stated: "We will definitely be having a sit-down and looking at our geographical position and going through the whole process. Without doubt that's going to happen, it was a long night." RTÉ confirmed their intentions to participate at the 2008 Eurovision Song Contest on 3 October 2007. The broadcaster had internally selected the artist in 2006 and 2007, while the song was chosen in a televised competition. For the 2008 Eurovision Song Contest, RTÉ announced alongside their confirmation that Eurosong 2008 would be organised as an open selection to choose both the artist and song to represent Ireland, after a strategic review by a five-member consultative committee appointed by the broadcaster.
Before Eurovision
Eurosong 2008
Eurosong 2008 was the national final format developed by RTÉ in order to select Ireland's entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2008. The competition was held on 23 February 2008 at the University Concert Hall in Limerick, hosted by Ray D'Arcy and broadcast on RTÉ One as well as online via the broadcaster's official website rte.ie. The first part of the national final was watched by 499,000 viewers in Ireland with a market share of 36%, while the second part was watched by 820,000 viewers in Ireland with a market share of 53%.
Competing entries
On 4 November 2007, RTÉ opened a submission period where artists and composers were able to submit their entries for the competition until 23 January 2008. Artists were also required to indicate the performance and staging details of their song. At the closing of the deadline, 150 entries were received. The competing entries were selected through two phases involving two separate five-member jury panels appointed by RTÉ; the first phase involved the first jury reviewing all of the submissions and selecting a shortlist of entries, while the second phase involved the second jury selecting the six finalists. Entries in both phases were evaluated based on four criteria: suitability of the song for Eurovision, quality of the artist, experience of the artist and stage appeal of the entry. The members of the jury that selected the six finalists were producer Bill Hughes, singer-songwriter Eleanor McEvoy, singer-songwriter and former contest winner Charlie McGettigan, agent and choreographer Julian Benson and RTÉ Assistant Commissioning Entertainment Editor Julian Vignoles. The finalists were announced on 3 February 2008 with their songs presented on 21 February 2008 during The Derek Mooney Show broadcast on RTÉ Radio 1.