RTE, the Irish national broadcaster has announced today that Brendan Murray will fly the Irish flag at the 2017 Eurovision Song Contest in Kyiv.

The young and talented Brendan Murray will have the honour to represent Ireland at the forthcoming 2017 Eurovision Song Contest.

Ireland has once again opted for an internal selection to select its Eurovision act and entry. Ireland is the 6th country to announce its candidate for Kyiv following Azerbaijan, FYR Macedonia, The Netherlands, Belgium and Cyprus.

The Irish national broadcaster RTÉ is pleased to announce that Ireland will once again be taking part in The Eurovision Song Contest in Kyiv, Ukraine in May 2016. The ESC is the largest Entertainment Show in the world and consistently one of the most popular annual television events both in Ireland and across Europe. This year’s Eurovision, hosted by Sweden in Stockholm reached a total of 204 Million viewers.

As usual Ireland will be drawn in one of the two semi-finals which will take place on the 9th and 11th of May. Qualifying acts from each semi-final will then compete in the Grand Final on Saturday the 13th of May.

Who is Brendan Murray?

This year RTÉ has selected Brendan Murray as the singer who will represent Ireland in Kyiv. From Tuam in Co. Galway Brendan has been a member of the successful boy band Hometown since he was 17. Hometown’s first single Where I Belong became the fastest-selling single from a debut act and the fastest-selling single from an Irish artist in 2014, reaching number one in the Irish charts.

The band’s second single, Cry For Help was released in March 2015 in Ireland and also reached number one. Hometown have toured extensively in the UK and Ireland and have supported such acts as Olly Murs, McBusted and The Vamps.

Call for songs

RTÉ is now inviting interested parties to submit a song for consideration by Louis Walsh in conjunction with a judging panel to be selected by RTÉ. Louis Walsh and the judging panel will consider all songs but will not limit themselves to considering songs solely submitted through this process.

The submission period for composers to submit their songs will  conclude on Monday 16 January 2017. You can find the rules here.

In  2016 former Westlife member Nicky Byrne defended the Irish colours at the Eurovision Song Contest in Stockholm with his entry Sunlight. Despite his extraordinary performance he failed to qualify to the grand final.

When it comes to Eurovision, Ireland can be referred to as the home of ESC, as it has geared up many a record in Eurovision history:

• The Emerald Isle holds the record of a total of 7 Eurovision victories (1970, 1980, 1987, 1992,1993, 1994, 1996)
• Ireland also holds the record of being the only country to have hosted the contest 3 consecutive times: 1993, 1994 and 1995.
• Johnny Logan is the only artist who has won the competition twice as singer, thrice if you count his 1992 Eurovision entry (as composer).
• The country has won 4 contests in a span of 5 years (1992, 1993,1994, 1996)

The 2017 Eurovision Song Contest is scheduled to be held on 9, 11 and 13 May at the IEC in Kyiv, Ukraine.