The Irish entry had its first rehearsal this morning inside the Skonto Hall in Riga.

Mickey Joe Harte, the Irish entrant, had his first rehearsal on stage in the Skonto Hall in Riga this morning. The Irish singer will be backed on stage by 3 female vocalists. His rehearsal was quite good in regards to sound and camera work.

At the Irish entry's press conference the delegation was asked one particular question, which was probably unavoidable: the resemblance of their entry,We've got the world, to the 2000 Danish winner, Fly on the wings of love. The song's composers, Keith Molloy and Martin Brannigan, just gave a straight answer: “Yes, we stole the song!”. After the laughes were over Molloy gave the real answer: “Nowadays each 3 minutes pop song sounds like another. I think our entry stands on its own now, it sounds completely different”.

Phil Coulter, the composer of Puppet on a string (the 1967 winner for the UK), who joined the Irish entry this year, gave the fans of Mickey Harte a great reason to smile: “In all my years in Eurovision, all the entries I have been involved in never finished out of the top 5 positions”.

Check out the photo gallery here!