Ever since Ryan Dolan’s last place finish at the 2013 contest, RTÉ have been under pressure to overhaul the Irish selection process. Calls for a re-think intensified in the aftermath of this year’s shambolic national final, but it was only following Can-Linn and Kasey Smith’s non-qualification that the station finally conceded a different strategy was needed. The mentor system was officially scrapped, and it looked like things were finally on the up for Irish eurofans. There were even rumours that the representative would be chosen through The Hit.
However, if the Irish edition of The Daily Mail is to be believed, the changes will be limited. Hopes of a standalone national final have been dashed, as the paper claims that Eurosong will remain part of The Late Late Show – the light-entertainment, human interest and current affairs hybrid which has hosted eight of the last nine Irish selections. Sigh.
Apparently, the broadcaster toyed with the idea of a one-off show in Dublin’s Bord Gáis Energy Theatre, before deciding that the costs associated with such a venture would be too “prohibitive”. The tabloid’s source seems to suggest that Ireland will revert to a process similar to that used in 2009 and 2011.
We are going back to a national song contest which will open the door to a host of new music and opportunities for composers and performers.
A national song contest is all well and good, but will big name or up-and-coming talents want to risk performing in the tiny and acoustically dodgy Late Late studio. Will they be happy to share the limelight with whichever guests the producers decide to lump into the show? (Jerry Springer and Danny DeVito are amongst the random personalities to pop up in past Eurosongs).
The one positive is that for the moment, all the above is rumour. So no need to adopt panic positions just yet. RTÉ are due to make an official announcement regarding their Eurovision plans on 13 October. Sadly, the signs don’t look too promising.
I agree with Darren. But RTE have an extremely limited budget at the same time. To me, it doesn’t matter what selection process we use, once we have a proper song, singer, songwriter and presentation. Also, promotion is a big thing as well. But Late Late Eurosong has got to go!!!!
Ireland may as well withdraw altogether if they keep this method up, the late late show is dire at the best of times, but the Eurosong edition is even more dire..fuelling the Irish mindset that Eurovision is an embarrassment ….. A show like The Hit is the ideal format for an Irish national final ..hopefully this is just a rumour
IT’S A GOOD THING I DIDN’T SEND IN MY SELECTION PROCESS PLAN (I WILL IF WE ARE USING LATE LATE EUROSONG FOR 2015.) If you are unsure about it, here is a little refresher on what I have in mind (and on paper): NOTE: There have been a few changes to the selection process. Name: Need I feckin’ tell you? (You know already.) No. of Songs: 12 One final only. Any singer aged 16 or over, regardless of fame, nationality, record deals or if they have taken part in the Eurovision Song Contest/Selection Process or if they have taken part… Read more »
Simply don’t put in the effort and don’t have a clue how to put a decent act together .. Useless …
Looks like failing to qualify for the final isn’t big enough a lesson for RTE to hieve, ya never know maybe after ireland have failed to qualify for 6 straight finals they fight get there act together.
Ireland would do good to expand their national selection. If the broadcaster forces itself to only select 5 songs, then there’s probably a lot of compromise that goes into the decision-making. And this may well lower the quality of the songs, or at least lead to more “safe” entries where no members of selection committee have strong objections. Let the televote and the jury have more of a decision. Unfortunately, RTE might have been shaken by the country’s 5-point performance in the ESC final last year, which caused the media to point out how much money was spent per point.… Read more »
Late Late show is not a good choice!
Late Late show is a not good choice!
I actually don’t care what selection method they are going to use as long as they have so many great songs to offer. But I agree with the article above, some credible musicians maybe don’t want to perform on a dodgy little stage of Late Late Show and feel that they are not the main part of the show, so it feels like the show is only made for amateur musicians. When all of the countries ramped up their national selection shows and bring their A-game, I think it’s about time for Ireland to make a stand-alone national selection show.… Read more »
I actually kinda like the Late Late Show….this past year I loved 3 of the 5 entries and “Heartbeat” was in my top 20. Never really understood all the hate Ireland got for the song and its national selection.
Dang it 🙁