The Irish national broadcaster RTE has confirmed to ESCToday that it has received more than 300 entries for the 2015 Irish Eurovision national selection.

Ireland will be holding a national final in order to select its Eurovision entry and representative. RTE plans to hold Eurosong 2015 by late February/early March.  The submisssion period for artists and composers to submit their entries to the Irish broadcaster concluded on 31 October. A special pannel of music experts will in be in charge of evaluating the more than 300 submitted songs and shortlist them to 40/50 songs.

Hereafter another special pannel of judges will be responsible to shortlist the 40/50 entries and select the 6 lucky hopefuls/entries that will battle for the golden ticket to Vienna. The 2015 Irish Eurovision act and entry will be selected via a 50/50 jury-televoting deliberation.

As we reported earlier Ireland will opt for a national final in order to select its 2015 Eurovision entry and act for Vienna, the Irish broadcaster has revealed its plans for the forthcoming Eurovision Song Contest today. The former 5 mentor mechanism which has been used in the previous years has been eradicated and replaced by an open selection process.

Last month RTE  published the rules and regulations for the 2015 Irish national final Eurosong 2015. Artists/composers had the chance to submit their applications until 31 October.

RTE’s executive producer  for Eurovision Mr. Michael Kealy has commented regarding the forthcoming Irish national final:

Ireland has a track record at Eurovision which is second to none but finding a song and an artist who can perform at the biggest entertainment show in the world is not an easy task. This year we have decided to have an open selection process for Eurosong 2015 and we want to hear from the very best songwriters and performers who believe they have what it takes to compete at the highest level in Vienna next May.

In 2014 RTE opted for the 5 mentor and 5 act mechanism with a national final to select its Eurovision entry for Copenhagen. Cann Linn featuring Kasey Smith represented Ireland at the 2014 Eurovision Song Contest with Heartbeat. The country failed to qualify to the grand final in Copenhagen.

Ireland debuted in the Eurovision Song Contest in  1965 and has won the event a total of 7 times ( 1970,1980,1987, 1992,1993, 1994,1996) and is the country that has won the event the most times.

Ireland holds many Eurovision records: The Emerald Isle is also the only country that has won the contest 3 years in a row ( 1992, 1993, 1994) and has hosted it 3 years in row too ( 1993, 1994,1995). Eire is also the country that has won the event twice with the same singer, Johnny Logan (1980 and 1987).

Stay tuned to ESCToday.com for the latest news on Ireland and the 2015 Eurovision Song Contest!