Ireland's failure to reach the Eurovision Grand Final has opened up a debate about the merits of entering the competition.

Wild Youth performed 'We Are One' as part of the first semi-final in Liverpool on Tuesday, but missed out on a place.

We have not reached the Grand Final since 2018, with Ryan O'Shaughnessy's song 'Together'.

Lunchtime Live listener Ant said it is no longer about the music.

"It's not even musical, the stuff they're putting out," he said.

"I'll give you a short example: Lordi - it was appalling, it was no way musical.

"To cut a long story short, my opinion is we shouldn't continue with this farce of entering the Eurovision.

"It's costing the taxpayer so much money as well.

"We've had some really excellent entries in my book - Rock 'n' Roll Kids, now I really rated that one.

"Ireland has had seven winners... and some of them were really good.

"But my point is it's political really".

Wild Youth perform 'We Are One' at the First Semi-Final in Liverpool, England. Picture by: Sarah Louise Bennett / EBU

Peter said he believes we should keep trying.

"I think we should persevere - I know it's not what it used to be, but I still kind of think we should keep at it," he said.

"I think perseverance is the key.

"It does infuriate me... it's not really about the music anymore.

"I don't think it's even the performance, I think there's a political reason behind [it]".

'Truly shocking'

Pedro said the whole selection process needs to be clear and fair.

"I think that there is a lack of transparency around the whole thing," he said.

"That starts in Ireland with the selection process for the Irish entries.

"There's suppose to be a panel of industry experts and other people - who are they?

"How did you get to be in the panel?"

Dustin the Turkey appears alongside Eurovision hosts in Liverpool, England. Picture by: YouTube/Eurovision Song Contest

Pedro said none of the entries in the running this year were strong.

"This year, when we were looking at the Eurosong in February, I have to say I thought all the entries were truly shocking.

"Three out of five were out of tune.

"The problem is that since we sent Dustin, I don't think they are taking us seriously in Eurovision".

'Our biggest strength'

Keith from the band Cruachan, who were one of this year's hopefuls, said we need to play to our strengths.

"It was another generic pop song; it was one of the better songs but it was just generic pop," he said.

"Europe has changed, people want different things.

"One of the key things we have is Irish folk music, and we stopped submitting that into Eurovision.

"It's the biggest strength that the country has in music," he added.

Ireland first entered the Eurovision Song Contest in 1965.

We famously won four out of five contests in the 1990s, and became the first country to win three times in a row.

Ireland has won the contest a record seven times in total.

While Canadian singer Céline Dion shot to international stardom after winning the 1988 contest for Switzerland in Dublin.

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Main image: Wild Youth perform 'We Are One' at the Eurovision first semi-final in Liverpool, England. Picture by: Sarah Louise Bennett / EBU