Ireland’s Eurovision selection method has come under fire after Wild Youth missed out on a coveted place in the grand final.
Despite giving their all during their performance on Tuesday night, the Dublin-based band failed to receive enough votes to send them through to Saturday night’s final.
Ireland hasn’t qualified for the Eurovision final since 2018 when Ryan O’Shaughnessy represented us with his song Together.
In recent years, Ireland’s Eurovision representation has been chosen during The Late Late Show’s Eurosong special.
Six acts are chosen by a delegation before they are presented to the public.
The public can then vote which of these acts they want to represent Ireland at Eurovision based on their performance during the Eurosong.
After Wild Youth failed to qualify for the grand final, Irish Twitter users flocked to the social media platform to demand a change in our Eurovision selection method.
In response to the backlash, Ireland’s head of delegation Michael Kealy told Ray D’Arcy: “Obviously people are devastated. What happened [on Tuesday night] was that after the arena, we all got in the bus back to the hotel and sat around the bar and had a late night drink. Lot of family and friends of the band are over.”
“It’s quite an emotional thing… a lot of time and effort and emotional capital is spent on our Eurovision effort every year, and it’s devastating when we don’t get though to the final.”
“The guys were all geared up and focused on the show last night but they had one eye on getting to the final on Saturday night.”
“When that doesn’t happen, it’s tough. It is tough on them. I feel for any artist who has to go through it. It’s a pressure cooker out here.”
When asked whether he thinks Ireland’s Eurovision selection method needs to be separated from The Late Late Show, Mr Kealy said: “I’m as opportunistic as the next person when it comes to this. I would agree.”
“I think The Late Late has served it well in a way – it’s been the only vehicle of a sufficient scale that we can do, to be honest. It’s very limited, but it’s the best thing we can do in that studio.”
“I’m not going to win any popularity contests for saying this, but RTÉ has been chronically underfunded I think, in my opinion, for decades, and it shows particularly when it comes to us putting on entertainment shows.”
“When it comes to entertainment, you need scale to make it look as impressive as a show that you would see in other European countries, and the truth is our facilities in RTÉ are not sufficient to mount shows like that.”
When asked whether Ireland’s Eurovision selection process will be separated from The Late Late Show next year, Mr Kealy admitted: “I honestly don’t know at the moment. That will be a conversation to have with the heads of the entertainment department in RTÉ and the incoming Late Late Show team.”
When questioned whether Wild Youth or the delegation think a different approach to their performance should have been taken, he said: “No. They had a very clear vision of what they wanted to do.”
“Conor [O’Donohoe, Wild Youth’s lead singer] had a very clear vision of what he wanted to do – he wanted that gold look, he wanted to wear the spangly gold outfit…”
On whether he had input into Wild Youth’s performance, Mr Kealy said: “Of course, but my job is not to impose my artistic vision on them.”
“My job is to help them realise their own artistic vision to their best of their ability, and our ability, and make it work from a Eurovision point of view,” Mr Kealy continued.
“I’m not going to tell them I’ve had a great idea and this is what we’re going to do. That wouldn’t be true to the artist or authentic to them… They owned that stage last night if you asked me and I thought they all did an amazing job.”
In response to a caller on the radio show who claimed Ireland’s Eurovision selection process is a “closed shop”, Mr Kealy said: “It’s not a closed shop. We advertised for people to send in songs last September or October.”
“That’s open to anybody who wants to send in a song. They’re not just listened to by me – they’re listened to by a panel of 30 or 40 people. It’s not a closed shop by any means.”
Mr Kealy continued: “I just want to reassure people that no-one is try to pull the wool over anyone’s eyes – it’s a completely transparent process”.
When asked about his own role in the selection process, he said: “I know how other people feel about it. I’ll say to you, Ray, I enjoy doing this and I’ll do it as long as RTÉ want me to do it… I know I’m not the most popular person on social media amongst some of the fans.”
“I always think of it as – if I can torture an analogy here – a bit like a run-down train running on a poorly maintained track, and it’s always late.”
“Is getting rid of the driver going to fix it? Or do you invest in the infrastructure to improve the actual train itself? So that would be my view of it.”
