Ireland can’t seem to keep up with a bigger, flashier Eurovision, according to the host of Junior Eurovision for Ireland.  

Indie-rock band Wild Youth will perform for Ireland at tonight’s Eurovision semi-final, hoping to bring Ireland to the final on May 13th.  

Ireland last reached the Eurovision final in 2018 with Ryan O'Shaughnessy’s Together – but the country hasn’t won the Eurovision since 1996. 

TV presenter and host of Junior Eurovision on TG4 Louise Cantillon told Newstalk Breakfast Ireland risks losing its record for most Eurovision wins this year.  

“On Saturday, Sweden stand the chance of potentially joining Ireland with seven Eurovision titles,” she said. 

Despite that, she said Ireland has an “amazing Eurovision legacy”, encouraging people to watch every year.

Investing in Eurovision

Ms Cantillon said “our priorities have changed” since the changes to the Eurovision Song Contest introduced in the 21st century.  

“Funnily enough, Ireland didn't seem to do as well as soon as Eurovision introduced televoting,” she said. 

“I guess that’s to be expected, we have a smaller population. We don't have as many Irish people across Europe.” 

Ms Cantillon said voting at Eurovision is very “political”, but the reason for our losses could simply be “we haven’t had as good an entry as we could”.  

“I don’t know if Ireland really want to win it,” Miss Cantillon suggested.

She said Ireland aren't investing as much as other winning countries into the contest in recent years.

“There are countries in Eastern Europe who are putting hundreds of thousands of euros into Eurovision.” 

Ms Cantillon said countries put hundreds of thousands of euros into Junior Eurovision contestants as well so they can “invest from an early age”.  

Eurovision as Gaeilge

She said Eurovision is about celebrating a country’s identity, culture and landscape, particularly for smaller countries. 

“I think it's unbelievable, the countries that stand on the biggest international TV program every year and sing in their native language,” she said.  

“Ireland hasn’t sent an as Gaeilge entry yet at the senior level and it blows my mind.” 

At last year’s Junior Eurovision, 13-year-old Sophie Lennon performed in Irish – and got Ireland their “best result in the last 25 years”, placing fourth.  

“If we can do at a junior level, there's no reason we can't do it in the big competition,” Ms Cantillon argued.  

Ireland sent an Irish-language performance to Eurovision in 1972, with Ceol an Ghrá by Sandie Jones. Ireland placed 15th, losing to Luxembourg.