Ireland was represented at the Eurovision Song Contest 1998 with the song "Is Always Over Now?", written by Gerry Morgan, and performed by Dawn Martin. The Irish participating broadcaster, (RTÉ), selected its entry through a national final.
Before Eurovision Eurosong '98 '98 was a radio song contest started in 1995 by RTÉ Raidió na Gaeltacht exclusively for Irish songs. The first edition of the contest was not related to Eurosong, but from 1996 until 1999, the recent winner of Réalta would qualify to Eurosong. The 4th edition of took place on 31 December 1997. The running order and results of '98 are unknown.
Artist Song Alan Milligan "Caipín bán" Art Ó Dufaigh "Céim ar chéim" Brendan Monaghan "Fonn sin i mo cheann" Caitriona McDermott "Eist go fóill" Cathal Ó Cathain "Lúrabóg larabóg" Deirdre Ní Chinnéide "Seo chugainn an samradh" Diane Ní Chanainn "Sráideacha" Melanie O'Reilly "Chugat an púca" Micheál Ó hAlluráin "Galar an cheoil" Seán Monaghan "Ina measc"
Final
RTÉ held Eurosong '98 on 8 March 1998 at the RTÉ Television Centre in Dublin, hosted by Pat Kenny. 400 entries were submitted for the competition, and eight artists and songs were selected to compete. Votes from ten regional juries determined the winner and after the combination of votes, "Is Always Over Now?" performed by Dawn Martin was selected as the winner.
+ Final – 8 March 1998 Artist Song Songwriter(s) Points Place 1 Dawn Martin "Is Always Over Now?" Gerry Morgan 95 1 2 Partners in Crime "Shine On" Niall O'Brien-Moran 63 5 3 Ray Doherty "Cold Shoulder" Ray Doherty 39 8 4 The Vard Sisters "Seol" Liam Lawton 92 2 5 Family "Save This Dance for Me" Danny Sheerin, Des Sheerin 57 6 6 Seán Monaghan "Ina measc" Sean Monagahan 43 7 7 The Carter Twins "Make the Change" Ronan Keating 77 4 8 Jo Collins "Overload" Jo Collins 84 3 + Detailed Regional Jury Votes Song scope="col" scope="col" scope="col" scope="col" scope="col" scope="col" scope="col" scope="col" scope="col" scope="col" Total 1 "Is Always Over Now?" 12 12 10 12 7 10 12 6 8 6 95 2 "Shine On" 5 6 6 6 6 7 7 5 7 8 63 3 "Cold Shoulder" 3 4 3 3 4 5 4 4 4 5 39 4 "Seol" 7 8 12 8 10 8 5 12 10 12 92 5 "Save This Dance for Me" 6 5 5 4 8 4 8 8 5 4 57 6 "Ina measc" 4 3 4 5 3 12 3 3 3 3 43 7 "Make the Change" 10 10 7 7 5 6 6 10 6 10 77 8 "Overload" 8 7 8 10 12 3 10 7 12 7 84
At Eurovision Dawn performed 13th in the running order on the evening of the contest. "Is Always Over Now?" went on to place 9th with 64 points. Paul Harrington, who won the contest for , performed backing vocals.
Voting
+ Points awarded to Ireland Score Country 12 points 10 points 8 points 7 points 6 points 5 points 4 points 3 points 2 points 1 point
+ Points awarded by Ireland Score Country 12 points 10 points 8 points 7 points 6 points 5 points 4 points 3 points 2 points 1 point
References