MARCH 21st

Scenes from the video of "It's For You"..

MARCH 8th

Last night Ireland picked its entry for the 2010 Eurovision Song Contest, to be staged in Oslo in May. In what can only be described as a runaway victory, the public televote and six regional juries all chose the same winner and Niamh Kavanagh will return to Eurovision 17years after winning the contest in Millstreet.

Niamh's song "It's For You" was written by Irishman Niall Mooney along with Swedes Marten Eriksson, Lina Eriksson & Jonas Gladnikoff. Niall and Jonas also co-wrote "Et Cetera", Ireland's 2009 Eurovision entry, and thereby join Liam Reilly (1990 and 1991) in an elite group to have written back-to-back Irish Eurovision entries. Niamh joins four other previous Irish Eurovision performers, in making a return to the contest. Tommy & Jimmy Swarbrigg sang "That's What Friends Are For" in 1975, finishing 9th and returned two years later as The Swarbriggs Plus Two, finishing 3rd with it's nice to be in love again. Maxi competed as a soloist in 1973, finishing 10th with "Do I Dream" and she returned as one third of Sheeba in 1981 finishing 5th with "Horoscopes". In 1980 Johnny Logan won the contest with "What's Another Year", a feat he repeated in 1987 with "Hold Me Now". In between winning the contests as a performed, Johnny wrote Linda Martin's 1984 entry "Terminal 3", which finished second and also wrote Linda's second Eurovision entry "Why Me?" which won the contest in 1992.

While there is no doubt that Niamh's song was a popular choice and an undisputed winner, the frck which Niamh wore on Friday evening, proved a little less popular. Speaking on radio with Derek Mooney today, Niamh took full responsibility for the styling of Friday's performance, but has said that there will be a considerable change in the styling and staging of the song in Oslo in May. 

In an unusual move, the Irish entry is being made available to the public from today, as a download from ITunes.

MARCH 2nd

On Friday night next, the Irish voting public as well as juries in Limerick, Sligo, Cork and Dublin will select Ireland's entry for the 2010 Eurovision Song Contest. Compared with previous years, the publicity surrounding the show has been a little low key, with most of the entertainment headlines being taken by the recent Irish Film & Television Awards and the Meteor Music Awards, but with the songs receiving their public debuts on Thursday next on Derek Mooney's radio show, it is likely that Friday night's "Late Late Show" Eurosong will capture the public's imagination.

RTÉ reversed an earlier decision to allow the songs into the public domain, in order to create as equal a playing pitch as possible. With Monika Ivkic based in Austria and Mikey Graham spending a large portion of his time in London, working on the "Dancing On Ice" television show, neither would be in a position to promote their Eurosong enties. Instead, it will be Derek Mooney and guests that present the five songs to the public between 3pm and 4.30pm on Thursday. You can hear the show, through RTE's website and if you miss them, there will be a podcast on the site, later that day. Ray D'Arcy will also be playing all the songs, on his show on Today FM, between 9am and midday on Friday. Again you will be able to hear this show on the internet. At midday on Friday, a few hours before the Eurosong final, the singers and songwriters can have their songs played on the radio or can make the songs available on the internet.

"All Kinds Of Everything" will not have a representative on the jury this year and so we will be adding our comments on the songs as they are broadcast, through our blog and and we will also be tweeting, throughout the show on Friday night.

Until we hear the songs, it's impossible to guess who is most likely to fly the Irish flag in Oslo, but by putting some titbits together, we can guess the kind of songs that that will be put before the Irish Public.

SONG 1 : "Does Heaven Need Much More?" - Leanne Moore (Written by Tommy Moran & John Waters) 

 When the names of Tommy Moran and John Waters were among the songwriters, many people expected a similar ballad style song to "They Can't Stop The Spring", the Eurovision entry the duo wrote for Dervish in 2007. However in his Irish Time article, Waters has made it clear that his 2010 entry is a very different style of song. "Does Heaven Need Much More" is apparently a catchy up-tempo, contemporary pop song.

SONG 2 : "River Of Silence"- Lee Bradshaw (Music: Ralph Siegel, Lyrics: John O'Flynn & Jose Santana)xgYTyQObssI

Kerry based Lee Bradshaw is appearing in Eurosong for the second successive year, and he will be hoping to improve on the 4th place he achieved in last year's Eurosong, with the song "So What". Lee who spent several years in a boyband, now runs The Station House restaurant in Tralee, and appears as a chef on the popular RTÉ television show "The Restaurant".  Like "So What", Lee's 2010 Eurosong entry is believed to also be a ballad but in a rather different style, with a more guitar sound and a rock edge to it. It's also one of three Eurosong entries with an international team behind it. Germans Ralph Siegel and Bernd Meinunger (aka John O'Flynn) are the two songwriters with the most Eurovision experience behind them, most notably writing Germany's 1982 winner, the song that became a massive international hit as well as 9jpp4DluZ_ctopping the Irish charts, "A Little Peace".  This year the two Germans are joined by Spaniard Jose Santana, a life long9jpp4DluZ_c fan. This German/Spanish team also wrote Montenegro's 2009 Eurovision entry "Get Out Of My Life", which narrowly missed out on making the final in Moscow. he song was written for Lee after the songwriters saw Him on last year's Eurosong, and while bookmakers only give the song  10/1 chance of representing Ireland in Oslo, there is no question, but that the experience of the songwriters should guarantee a strong song, something which Lee has repeated on his Tweets.

SONG 3: "Baby, Nothing's Wrong" - Michael Graham (Written by Michael Graham, Scott Newman & Yann O'Brien)

Dubliner Michael (Mikey) Graham is probably the most famous entrant of the five, in the Irish selection, particularly due to his involvement in the internationally popular boyband, Boyzone. At the moment, Mikey is very busy on three fronts. As well as writing and performing "Baby, Nothing's Wrong", a song originally written for his wife, Mikey is also involved in the television show "Dancing On Ice" where he is showing off his newly acquired shaking skills and he is also involved in promoting the new Boyzone album and single, which is in the shops this week. Mikey's involvement has certainly raised the profile of this year's Eurosong, and the bookmakers have made him the favourite to represent Ireland in Oslo, without hearing any of he songs. Those that have heard the song say that it is a very strong pop ballad, with lots of potential for radio play and chart success. Interestingly, Mikey is one of two Eurosong entrants to have previously appeared on the Eurovision stage, but his is the only song to be written by songwriters that have neverr had a previous Eurovision entry.  Mikey's involvement in Eurosong seems to have surprised his fellow members of Boyzone and newspaper articles quoting Shane Lynch andKeith Duffy, seem to suggest a certain reticence to get fully behind Mikey's Eurovision campaign, but with the publicity that Mikey has got since entering the selection, it seems that he is the one to beat on Friday night.

SONG 4: "Fashion Queen" - Monika Ivkic (Written by Marc Paelinck & Mathias Strasser)

While Monika might be the youngest of the five Eurosong finalists, her songwriters included someone with plenty of Eurovision experience. Marc Paelinck co-wrote the Belgian Eurovision entries "Ladies" in 2002 and "1 Life" in 2004, as well as "What If We" Malta's entry in 2009 in Moscow. Austrian Mathias Strasser has previously written songs of Monika and their 2010 Eurosong collaboration "Fashion Queen" is believed to have r'n'b influences and has shades of some of Beyonce's hits. 

SONG 5 : "It's For You - Niamh Kavanagh (Music: Niall Mooney, Marten Eriksson, Lina Eriksson & Jonas Gladnikoff)

In terms of Eurosong promotion, there's no question that 1993 Eurovison winner Niamh Kavanagh, has been hard at work. Niamh, who is currently based in Northern Ireland has been on radio, doing live gigs,  including a very successful appearance at Dublin's "Eurobash" in February as well as interviews with several websites. Niamh certainly seems to have the support of most Irish Eurovision fans, based on a poll on this website, which showed that her song was the one which most people wanted to hear. Niamh also has built a Facebook fan club, who's membership is now approaching 3,000 members. It's clear from interviews that Niamh has been lured back to the contest, by the song "It's For You", which is a very strong Irish style Eurovision ballad, complete with some traditional Irish instrumentation  and the obligatory key change. Those that have heard the song, say that if it gets to Oslo, it could be one of the favourites to win the contest. The songwriting and production team behind "It's For You" include Irishman Niall Mooney and Swede Jonas Gladnikoff, who also co-wrote Ireland's 2009 Eurovision entry. This year they are joined by the husband and wife team Linda and Marten Eriksson, who also produced the song. "It's For You" is currently second favourite with the bookmaker.

If you are in Dublin on Friday night and would like to watch the show with other Eurovision fans, there is a party being organised in McGowans in Stillorgan, just up from the RTE studios. The party starts at 8.00pm and it is believed that some of the Eurosong finals will make their way to McGowans after the show. You can find more information here.

FEBRUARY 11th

The Eurosong 2010 finalists were in RTÉ today and the draw for the running order of the show was made and overseen by an independent auditor. Here's the order in which the songs will be performed on March 5th.

1. "Does Heaven Need Much More?" - Leanne Moore (Written by Tommy Moran & John Waters)  

2. "River Of Silence - Lee Bradshaw (Music: Ralph Siegel, Lyrics: John O'Flynn & Jose Santana)

3. "Baby,Nothing's Wrong" - Michael Graham (Written by Michael Graham, Scott Newman & Yann O'Brien)

4. "Fashion Queen" - Monika Ivkic (Written by Marc Paelinck & Mathias Strasser)

5. "It's For You - Niamh Kavanagh (Music: Niall Mooney, Marten Eriksson, Lina Eriksson & Jonas Gladnikoff)

As we mentioned previously, RTÉ has relaxed the rules on the songs not being made public before the show and Niamh Kavanagh has now confirmed that she will be performed her 2010 "It's For You" for the first time in public at the EuroBash charity event, to be staged in Dublin's Gaiety theatre on February 20th. There are still tickets available and you can get more information here.   

FEBRUARY 10th

RTÉ has now confirmed the names of the five songs that will vie to represent Ireland at the 2010 Eurovision Song Contest in Oslo in May. On Friday March 5th, the songs will be performed on a "Late Late Show" Special Eurosong show and the public will vote on them through a televote, with regional juries in Dublin, Limerick, Sligo and Cork also accounting for 50% of the vote.

The five songs are;

• "Baby,Nothing's Wrong" - Michael Graham (Written by Michael Graham, Scott Newman & Yann O'Brien)
• "Does Heaven Need Much More?" - Leanne Moore (Written by Tommy Moran & John Waters)
• "Fashion Queen" - Monika Ivkic (Written by Marc Paelinck & Mathias Strasser)
• "It's For You - Niamh Kavanagh (Music: Niall Mooney, Marten Eriksson, Lina Eriksson & Jonas Gladnikoff)
• "River Of Silence - Lee Bradshaw (Music: Ralph Siegel, Lyrics: John O'Flynn & Jose Santana)

The draw for the order of performance on Eurosong 2010 will be made by the independent auditor tomorrow and the songs will be discussed on Derek Mooney's afternoon radio show on RTÉ.

• "Baby Nothing's Wrong" sung by Michael Graham

Michael Graham was always set to pave a career in the entertainment industry. The foundations of his career were set at an early age where he discovered his love for singing, dancing and acting at the Billie Barry Stage School before refining his skills at The Gaiety School of Acting.

In 1993 at the age of 21, Michael attended an audition for a boy band that became one of Ireland’s biggest international acts. Michael along with Ronan Keating, Stephen Gately, Keith Duffy and Shane Lynch were chosen from hundreds of hopefuls and Boyzone was formed under the watchful eye of manager Louis Walsh. They had a meteoric rise to fame and have sold more than 10 millions albums since 1993. Boyzone also completed sell out tours all over the world and scored five number one records. Mikey has also been responsible for writing/co-writing many of Boyzone’s chart topping songs. He has always had a passion for music producing and songwriting and feels most at ease in his own home studio, Avalon.

Mikey’s other passions include acting and to date he has appeared on RTÉ’s Hollywood Trials, and has acted in two feature films, “Hey Mr. DJ”, with Mike Reid and “Man On the Run” with Ben Kingsley.

28 year old singer-songwriter Yann O’Brien who hails from Dublin and is a classically trained guitarist. 30 year-old Scott Newman is also from Dublin and is a classically trained , pianist, singer and songwriter. Both musicians are very highly regarded in the music industry and very accomplished in their own right. Mikey, Yann and Scott met in 2004 through mutual friends and based on their shared musical passion, started a Dublin based music production company where they continue to work on numerous projects together.

• "Does Heaven Need Much More?" sung by Leanne Moore

This is the second time that song writing duo, John Waters and Tommy Moran, have qualified for the Eurosong Final. Their song “They Can’t Stop the Spring” sung by traditional Irish group Dervish, won the Eurosong 2007 final and went on represent Ireland in the Eurovision Song Contest in Helsinki.

Does Heaven Need Much More will be performed by the winner of the 2008 You're A Star, 25 year old Leanne Moore from Limerick. Leanne, is thrilled at the chance to compete to represent Ireland in Eurovision. "I can't wait to get going. I love the song. It says something that I feel very deeply, about the idea that this existence is just one phase of our journey. It's kind of speculating about how Heaven could be better than the best bits down here! But probably more important it's a great pop song and I think perfect for Eurovision."

Leanne is currently doing journalism and radio studies at Griffith College in Dublin, having earlier completed a degree in theology and philosophy at the University of Limerick. John Waters, co-writer of the song, said he is ecstatic that Leanne has agreed to sing 'Does Heaven Need Much More?'. "When I saw her in You're a Star, I saw a quality that you very rarely encounter. She can sing beautifully. She possesses a song and breathes herself into it. And, of course, she looks amazing. But beyond that she has this instant likeability. You just want her to go wherever she wants to. I'm especially delighted that with Leanne we've broken out of our own generation. I think she will give people a sense of a future Ireland, perhaps one in which we can start dreaming again".

John Waters is an author and newspaper columnist, who currently writes weekly columns for The Irish Times and The Irish Mail on Sunday. He and co-writer Tommy Moran were childhood friends in Castlerea, Co Roscommon, and as teenagers wrote many songs together. After a 25-year lay-off, they began writing together again in 2004. As well as having their song represent Ireland in the Eurovision Song Contest in Helsinki, one of their songs, "Baby, Let Me Buy You a Drink", was recorded by Sinead O'Connor for the fundraising album "Water for Life", produced by the Malawi-based development agency Wells for Zoe.

• "Fashion Queen" sung by Monika Ivkic (aka Monice)

Fashion Queen is a truly European collaboration. Its lead singer Monika Ivkic is originally from Bosnia (with parents from Croatia and Serbia) and now lives in Austria, Composer Marc Paelinck is a Belgian national who lives in Switzerland, and its lyricist Mathias Strasser is an Austrian citizen who grew up in Germany and currently resides in the United Kingdom. Together, they hope to represent Ireland at the Eurovision Song Contest 2010.

Monika Ivkic was born in Gradačac, Bosnia, on June 6, 1989 and spent her early childhood in Bosnia before moving to Vienna, Austria, where she still lives. Monika participated in various casting shows in German-speaking Europe, most notably the fifth season of Deutschland sucht den Superstar (DSDS) in 2008, the German version of American Idol, which she finished in fourth place. During the competition, judges compared her voice to that of
Beyoncé Knowles, who Monika has repeatedly described as her main influence. Following the contest, Monika did not sign a contract with a record label, citing a desire to express herself musically without being bound by the commercial constraints of her home market. She recorded a few songs and released them on her YouTube channel

Marc Paelinck toured Europe as a classical pianist, before writing songs for Belgian pop group “Touch of Joy”, scoring nine top five hits in Belgium. He also co-wrote a number of songs for other artists and reached top chart positions in The Netherlands, Spain, Portugal, the Czech Republic, Ukraine, Sweden and South Africa. Over the course of his career, Marc’s songs have been sold more than one million times. Marc has also previously written songs for the Eurovision Song Contest. Last year a song he co-wrote with Gregory Bilsen represented Malta in the ESC final and he has also twice won the Belgian national finals. Mathias Strasser wrote the lyrics for Fashion Queen and has co-written several of Monika’s songs as well as collaborating with her on her autobiography.

• "It's For You" sung by Niamh Kavanagh

Niamh Kavanagh has been singing for most of her life, but really into her own in 1990 when Alan Parker, director of The Commitments, included Niamh on the film’s hugely successful soundtrack album as main vocalist for the songs "Destination Anywhere", "Nowhere to Run" and "Do Right Woman, Do Right Man". She then toured extensively with the group appearing at such illustrious events as the 1992 Grammy Awards in New York and the Commitment to Life Concert in Los Angeles.

In 1993, before an international audience of over 350 million people, Niamh sang the winning entry for Ireland in the Eurovision Song Contest. The song, "In Your Eyes", went on to achieve double platinum status. Having signed to Arista Records, she took her talent around Europe before flying to Nashville, Tennessee, to make her debut album, Flying Blind. The album, produced by John Jennings, was released to critical acclaim in 1995. Since then, Niamh has been touring and performing, with regular appearances at major venues and events as well as on television and radio. Over the last ten years she has recorded a collaboration album, Together Alone, along with Irish singer/song-writer Gerry Kearney. She has recorded music for a future album under the working title Wonderdrug, and recently added to her long line of collaborations, which include the Dubliners and Mary Chapin Carpenter, with an acclaimed contribution to the Secret Garden album, Inside I’m Singing. Her rendition of Simply You, joins other songs written by Secret Garden and Brendan Graham (who wrote the hugely successful You Raise Me Up), and Niamh found herself sharing album space with Elaine Paige and Barbra Streisand.

Niall Mooney & Jonas Gladnikoff, the writers who brought you “Et Cetera” Ireland’s 2009 Eurovision entry, are back. This time they have been joined by Lina and Marten Eriksson two of Sweden’s most successful writing/production partnerships.

Jonas and Niall have been collaborating for a number years clocking up a large number of National Final appearances around Europe including Lithuania, Bulgaria and Albania. In 2009 Jonas came very close to representing Denmark coming second in their National Final, only to be narrowly beaten by Ireland’s own Ronan Keating. This was made all the more unusual when Jonas found himself co-writer on the Irish entry the same year!

Niall says, “After last year it is obvious Ireland are going to need something really special to get a high position in the contest”. The answer presented itself when he heard Niamh Kavanagh singing in the National Concert Hall. “Her voice literally raised the roof “, exclaims Niall. “I got talking to Niamh a few months later and she said she’d consider it only if she had a great song. That was the hard bit. Jonas and I literally spent months writing but nothing was really good enough. Then Lina and Marten joined the collaboration and the whole thing clicked”.

Marten and Lina have had many hits across Europe. There biggest successes have been writing for Simon Cowell’s TV show Pop Idol in both Sweden and Germany. Lina co-wrote the Swedish Pop Idol winners song in 2007 “This moment” which went double platinum overnight. Amongst others they also recorded a song and video with Rybak last year and to top it off Marten produced “Et Cetera” for Ireland.

“If it ain’t broke don’t fix it “ Niall says. Big ballads do well every year and Ireland was the best at it once. I believe the time is right to be the best again. It takes a lot of courage for a singer to go back after winning 17 years ago. I am already so proud of Niamh for stepping up to the challenge and I think she will make the whole country proud if selected. After all this time……It’s for you!!”

• "River Of Silence" sung by Lee Bradshaw

Lee Bradshaw returns to Eurosong 2010 having also been successful in reaching the Eurosong 2009 final where he performed the song “So What”. Lee who is 29 years old has had a lifelong interest in music. At just 17 years of age, Lee travelled the continent with the group “Men2B” who were contracted to President Records in London. Since then Lee has been working on his own material and this year was headhunted by Eurovision legend Ralph Siegel who owns Jupiter Records in Germany.

A man of many talents, Lee has had a wide and varied career including a period as an actor and model, appearing in many musicals and working with many high profile names such as John Rocha, Louis Copeland and featuring regularly in the Brown Thomas Supermodel Fashion Show.

Having grown up in Restaurants, Lee has become a restaurateur himself and currently resides in Kerry. His own award winning bar and restaurant The Station House Bar and Grill is a huge success, and Lee has worked as a restaurant consultant and opened a second restaurant in Kerry now run by his brother. He may be familiar to viewers in the RTÉ TV series “The Restaurant”. Rumour has it that Lee is in the final stages of negotiating a deal for a new bar/restaurant in Dublin.

In the meantime Lee has been busy working closely with legendary German musician, songwriter and producer Ralph Siegel, who is one of the most notable figures at the Eurovision Song Contest. In 1982, Siegel's song "Ein bißchen Frieden" (A Little Peace), performed by Nicole won the Contest and became a hit in Europe. Ralph has participated in the ESC with 19 songs so far, finishing 8 times in the top 4 and in the top 10 on all other occasions. Ralph hopes to retire next year and is confident that Lee is the perfect choice to end his career on a high note.

The lyricists of "River Of Silence" are also no strangers to Eurovision. John O'Fynn is also know as Bernd Meinunger. He has collaborated with Ralph Sigel on the majority of Sigel's Eurovision entries, including 1982 winner "Ein bißchen Frieden" (A Little Peace). In 2005, he had the unusual distinction of competi against himself when he wrote the lyrics from the Estonian and the German entries. 

José Santana (José Juan Santana Rodriguez) is well known Spanish Eurovision fan and songwriter. This is his second Eurovision entry, having worked with Sigel and O'Brien on last year's entry for Montenegro.

FEBRUARY 3rd

Those awaiting news of the five finalists in Eurosong 2010, the Irish Eurovision selection will have to wait another few days before RTÉ confirm the names of the performers and the songs which will compete on March 5th. The successful entrants have in the process of being contacted and RTÉ plans a special launch for the selection, early next week.

In an interesting change to previous years, RTÉ is lifting the embargo on not allowing the songs to be made public until they are broadcast on radio on the week of the show. Instead the singers and songwriters will be allowed to make the songs public, as they see fit. This could well mean that we hear some of the songs as early as next week.

Interestingly, PaddyPower bookmakers have now re-opened the betting on who will represent Ireland in Oslo and 1993 Eurovision winner Niamh Kavanagh is the favourite at 5/2, Justin Lee Collins, who has submitted a song co-written by Ronan Keating is 4/1, fellow Boyzone member Mikey Graham is also well backed at 5/1 and with two time winner Brendan Graham also in the Top 5, we could be in for a very experienced field and already the speculation has started on whether we could see some very familiar names amongst the performers and songwriters.

Ireland will face 3 or 4 countries from the Balkan pot (which also includes Switzerland), 3 or 4 countries from the Baltic block and 3 former members of the USSR. However with only 17 countries in each semi-final and 10 qualifying, the mathematical chances of each country qualifying are higher than in any previous semi-final.

Automatic qualifiers France, Germany, Spain and the U.K.(the "Big 4") and host country Norway will be split into two groups, with three allocated to one semi-final and two to the other. One key advantage that could benefit Ireland, would come if the U.K. were drawn to show (and vote in) our semi-final as they are the country that has tended to vote most strongly for Ireland.

"All Kinds Of Everything" will be posting a review of he draw on Sunday afternoon.

FEBRUARY 3rd

It now appears likely that RTÉ may be in a position to confirm the names of the five finalists in Eurosong 2010 as early as next Friday (February 5th). The selection panel chaired by Linda Martin has put in some long days and are close to finalising the names of the songs and singers that will fight for the votes of the Irish public and four regional juries on Friday March 5th. The show will also be streamed live on the internet. .

FEBRUARY 1st

RTÉ's deadline for submitting potential entries to represent Ireland at the Eurovision Song Contest in Oslo passed at midday today. There were over 280 submissions, some containing two songs, meaning that over 300 songs will be in the contention for the five slots in the Eurosong 2010 show, to be staged on March 5th. Over the next three days the five members o the selection panel will listen to the songs and it is hoped hat the five lucky songwriters and performers will be given the good news on Friday next (February 5th).

After a slower start than last year, the number of entries is slightly higher than 2009 and as with the last two years, several entries have been received from songwriters and performers who are not currently based in Ireland. Songs have been submitted from Sweden, the U.K., Germany, Spain and Latvia as well as some from further afield, including a couple from the U.S.A. 

"All Kinds Of Everything" now has confirmation of several well known singers and songwriters have entered the Irish selection. As we reported previously, Ronan Keating has co-written a song for British television star Justin Lee-Collins to potentially perform at Eurovision. "All I ever Want Is You" is co-written by Ronan with Paul Barry, a well known songwriter who's hits include "Believe" by Cher and "Hero" by Enrique Iglesias. Ronan could be facing some familiar opposition as fellow Boyzone member Mikey Graham is also believed to have submitted a song to the Irish selection.

The final on March 5th will follow a very similar format to last year, with four regional juries counting for 50% of the votes, with another 50% coming from a national televote and on Sunday next Ireland will know the other 16 countries that will be competing in our semi-final, when the allocation draw will be made in Oslo. Irish fans will be hoping to avoid a similar draw to last year, when we ended up in the same heat as the three Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania and several Balkan countries. However as well as a smaller number of competing countries and juries now voting in the semi-finals, it will be hoped that Ireland qualifies for the final, for the first time since 2006.

JANUARY 19th

It's now less than two weeks from the final submission date set by RTÉ, for potential songs to represent Ireland in the 2010 Eurovision Song Contest, to be staged in Oslo in May. Anyone intending to enter the Irish selection has until midday on Monday February 1st to submit a recording of their song and you can find all the rules and details on the RTÉ website.

This year's selection which will be staged on Friday March 5th as part of  "The Late Late Show" is broadly similar to Eurosong 2009, with two important differences. Firstly, unlike last year, songwriters are not being asked to provide a "final package", as RTÉ has reserved the right to select a different singer for any song which is submitted and is thought good enough to make the final. This rule change is the result of a more relaxed schedule and a later date for the Irish final, than in recent years and the fact that last year, the selection panel was known to like several songs, but believed that the singers were not necessarily right for Eurovision. The second change is that there will only be five songs in this year's Irish final, down from six finalists in 2009.

The five members of the selection panel remain the same as 2009, with 1992 Eurovision winner Linda Martin chairing the team, joining Linda will be Julian Benson, choreographer; Mark Crossingham, MD Universal Music Ireland; Larry Gogan, broadcaster and Diarmuid Furlong, head of the Irish branch of the Eurovision fan club. During the first week in February they will listen to all the entries and select the five songs which will compete to represent Ireland in May. The voting in the final will be the same as 2009, with a 50/50 mix between a public televote and number of regional juries.   

If news reaching "All Kinds Of Everything" is correct, we could have the most fascinating Irish line-up in years, with several well known Irish Eurovision singers and songwriters from the past, having another attempt to being victory for Ireland. Also in the list of potential Eurosong acts are several new names, some that are already well known from television casting shows. "All Kinds Of Everything" believes that two former Irish Eurovision winning singers are working on entries, as well as two former songwriting winners. While we probably won't have final confirmation until after the deadline, we believe that 1993 Eurovision winner Niamh Kavanagh and 1994 winner Charlie McGettigan are working on separate entries. Indeed, so widespread are the rumours of the potential return of Niamh Kavanagh, that Paddy Powers slashed he odds on her representing Ireland from 33/1 to 5/1, before temporarily closing their book. Two time winning songwriter Brendan Graham, is another rumoured name, and a report which arrived in our inbox this weekend, suggests that Johnny Logan may also be entering, as a songwriter, while another high profile Irish songwriter, more known for folk music, may also be trying again.

AUGUST 10th

Ireland's recent run of poor results in the Eurovision Song Contest which continued in Moscow, when "Et Cetera" performed by Sinead Mulvey & Black Daisy has cast a question mark over RTÉ's commitment to the competition and Ireland's continued participation in the event. 

Back in 2000, few would have imagined that the 6th place achieved by "Millennium Of Love" performed by Eamonn Toal, would be Ireland's most successful entry of the following decade. However as "the noughties" come to a close, Ireland's once proud record in the contest now seems a distant memory.