esctoday.com has received confirmation that Ireland's National final Eurosong 2009 will be taking place on Friday February 20th, 2009.

As previously reported by esctoday.com, RTÉ, the Irish broadcaster, had announced that it is having an Open National Selection to choose the Irish representative(s) for the Eurovision Song Contest 2009.

The show Eurosong 2009 will feature six shortlisted songs from all the entries received by RTÉ before Monday 02nd February 2009 at 13:00 CET (12:00 localtime).

A judging panel of five experts, chaired by former Eurovision Song Contest winner in 1992 -Linda Martin, from the music, entertainment, and television industries will select the six entries from all those received to compete in Eurosong 2009.

The judging panel will make their selections employing the following criteria:
a) suitability of the song for the ESC
b) quality of the singer/performer(s)
c) experience of the singer/performer(s)
d) stage appeal of the singer/performer(s)

RTÉ and the judging panel has yet to confirm the voting format for the show.

More details on the rules of the show can be found here.

Stay tuned to esctoday.com for more news and informationon the Irish selection for the 54th Eurovision Song Contest 2009 to be staged in Moscow.