RTE, the Irish national broadcaster, has confirmed to ESCToday that Ireland will participate at the forthcoming 2020 Eurovision Song Contest in the Netherlands.

Thus Ireland joins the list of countries who so far have confirmed their participation at the 2020 Eurovision edition in Holland.

RTE is yet to determine the mechanism it will use to select its Eurovision entry and act for Rotterdam. More details on the ESC 2020 Irish Eurovision project will be released in due course.

Ireland in Eurovision

Ireland debuted at the Eurovision Song Contest in 1965 and has won the competition a record 7 times  (1970, 1980, 1988, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1996).

The Emerald Isle holds many a record when it comes to our beloved contest: Ireland is the only country to have won the event 3 times in a row (1992, 1993, 1994), whilst Dublin retains the record of being the only city to have hosted the event twice in a row (1994, 1995).

In fact the 90’s were Ireland’s golden years in Eurovision, the country welcomed the Eurovision bandwagon 4 times in a span of 5 years (1993, 1994, 1995 and 1997) with Dublin hosting the event thrice.

Ireland’s Johnny Logan is also the only artist to have won the competition twice (1980, 1987). The Irish have competed 53 times in the competition.

In 2019 Ireland selected Sarah McTernan  via an internal selection in order to fly the Irish flag at the Eurovision Song Contest in Tel Aviv with her entry 22. Despite a magnificent performance in Israel the country failed to qualify to the Grand Final.