Ireland in the Eurovision Song Contest 2001

ESC National Year
Year = 2001
Country = IRL
Preselection = National Final
Preselection date = 25 February 2001 | Entrant = Gary O'Shaughnessy
Song = Without Your Love
SF result = N/A
Final result = 21st of 23 (6 points)

Gary O'Shaughnessy represented Ireland in the 2001 Eurovision Song Contest in Copenhagen after winning the national final selection. O'Shaughnessy had previously competed in the 1997 and 1999 national selections, coming in 3rd and 5th place respectively. His song "Without Your Love" was one of seven songs presented in the national final, which was held on 25 February 2001 at the RTÉ television centre in Dublin. Louise Loughman hosted the event, and regional televoting was used to determine the winner. ["http://www.geocities.com/national_finals_90s_00s/Ireland2001.html]

Though O'Shaughnessy won with the most points from the televoting regions, he only received the third highest number of televotes overall, with 11,653. Runners-up InFocus received the most votes, with 13,356, and third-placed Fe-Mail received 12,271. O'Shaughnessy performed 12th in the running order on the night of the contest. "Without Your Love" went on to place 21st with 6 points, and was Ireland worst result in the contest at the time.

For the 2002 contest, the EBU abandoned the qualifying scheme it had used since 1997, in which countries were allowed to participate based on their average scores from the previous five years. Instead, only the thirteen highest scoring countries were invited to compete in Talinn, along with the "Big Four" and the countries relegated from the 2001 contest. Under the five-year averages method, Ireland would have qualified for the 2002 contest, but the 21st place ranking was not good enough under the new qualifying method. As a result of relegation, however, Ireland was given a guaranteed spot in the 2003 contest.

References