Ireland was represented at the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2024 with the song "", composed by Ian James White and Nicky Brennan, with lyrics by Laoise Ní Nualláin, and performed by Enya Cox Dempsey. The Irish participating broadcaster, TG4, organised the national final 2024 to select its entrant for the contest, while the song was internally selected.
Background
Prior to the 2024 contest, Ireland had participated in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest eight times since its debut in ; TG4 originally intended to make their debut , but required funding from the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland (BAI), which was rejected. Ireland first entered the top ten in , when Zena Donnelly represented the country with "" and ended up in 10th place out of 17 entries with 122 points; this would remain as Ireland's only top ten entry and its best result until , when Sophie Lennon represented it with the song "" and finished 4th with 150 points. In , Jessica McKean competed for Ireland with the song "", which contained uncredited live vocals from the aforementioned Lennon and ended up in 16th (last) place with 42 points; this marked the first last place result for Ireland.
Unlike the Irish participation in the adult contest, which is managed by the Irish national broadcaster, (RTÉ), the responsibility of broadcasting the Junior Eurovision Song Contest within Ireland and organising the selection of the nation's entry falls on TG4, which broadcasts exclusively in the Irish language.
Before Junior Eurovision
Junior Eurovision 2024 TG4 confirmed its intention to participate in the 2024 contest on 5 March 2024, also revealing that it would once again use the national selection format 2024, co-produced with Adare Productions, to select its artist, and opened the submission process for interested artists aged between nine and fourteen. Changes to the format of 2024 were also announced, such as lowering the number of competitors to ten. Filming for the selection commenced in Dublin in early June 2024.
Further details of the competition were announced during the show's first episode on 15 September 2024. Louise Cantillon returned to host the show for the fourth time in a row. Niamh Ní Chróinín also returned as one of the two permanent judges.
Participants
The ten participants competing in the 2024 edition were revealed at the end of the first show:
Kiefer Byrne Enya Cox Dempsey Safiya Devlin Robin Doyle Harry Greaney Katelyn Harrington Charlotte Mackey Isla McManus Abiha Mansoor Lottie O'Driscoll Murray
Jury members As in previous editions, the results of the live shows were decided by an in-studio jury of two permanent members and revolving guest judges. The two permanent judges are:
Niamh Ní Chróinín – Radio presenter, manager of Irish-language youth radio station Raidió Rí-Rá Tadhg Ó Gríofa – Irish singer
+Guest judgesArtistESCYear(s)Song(s)Place(SF)Points(SF)Place(Final)Points(Final)Linda Martin"Terminal 3" rowspan="3"; colspan="2" 2 137"Why Me?"1155Niamh Kavanagh"In Your Eyes" 1 187"It's for You"9672325Brooke Scullion"That's Rich"1547colspan="2" Sophie Lennon"Solas" colspan="2"; rowspan="2" 4 150"Aisling" 16 ◁ 42
First round The second show was broadcast on 22 September 2024, with Brooke Scullion as the guest judge. Unlike in previous years, rather than contestants compete in heats for a ticket to the semi-final, all ten finalists performed in the first show with two being eliminated from the competition. The show consisted of all ten artists performing Irish-language covers of popular songs. Safiya Devlin and Harry Greaney did not advance, while the remaining eight contestants progressed to the next round. +Show 2 – 22 September 2024 Draw Artist Song Result1Enya Cox Dempsey"Driver's Licence" Advanced2Isla McManus"Perfect" Advanced3Kiefer Byrne"Valerie" Advanced4Abiha Mansoor"Only Love Can Hurt Like This" Advanced5Robin Doyle"New York" Advanced6Lottie O'Driscoll Murray"And I Am Telling You I'm Not Going" Advanced7Charlotte Mackay"I Will Always Love You" Advanced8Katelyn Harrington"Spotlight" Advanced9Safiya Devlin"If I Could Turn Back Time" Eliminated10Harry Greaney"Eyes Closed" Eliminated
Second round The third show was broadcast on 29 September 2024, with Niamh Kavanagh as the guest judge. The remaining eight artists performed with another two being eliminated from the competition. The show consisted of all eight artists performing Irish-language covers of popular songs. Kiefer Byrne and Robyn Doyle did not advance to the next round, while the remaining six contestants progressed to the semi-final. +Show 3 – 29 September 2024 Draw Artist Song Result1Lottie O'Driscoll Murray"Take Me to Church" Advanced2Enya Cox Dempsey"Someone You Loved" Advanced3Katelyn Harrington"Stay With Me" Advanced4Abiha Mansoor"Always" Advanced5Isla McManus"Skinny Love" Advanced6Charlotte Mackey"Can't Help Falling in Love" Advanced7Robyn Doyle"Brave" Eliminated8Kiefer Byrne"Halo" Eliminated
Semi-final The fourth show was broadcast on 6 October 2024, with Sophie Lennon as the guest judge. The remaining six artists performed with three contestants being eliminated from the competition. The show consisted of all six artists performing Irish-language covers of popular songs. Katelyn Harrington, Charlotte Mackay and Abiha Mansoor did not advance, while the final three contestants qualified for the final. +Show 4 – 6 October 2024 Draw Artist Song Result1Lottie O'Driscoll Murray"Castles" Advanced2Enya Cox Dempsey"Back to Black" Advanced3Charlotte Mackay"Hold Me While You Wait" Eliminated4Isla McManus"Nervous" Advanced5Abiha Mansoor"Pompeii" Eliminated6Katelyn Harrington"Brave" Eliminated
Final The fifth and final show took place on 13 October 2024, with Linda Martin as the guest judge. First, the remaining three finalists performed an Irish-language cover of a popular song from the previous weeks, and then performed a cover of a famous Eurovision song. After revealing Enya Cox Dempsey and Lottie O’Driscoll Murray as the top 2, they performed their rendition of the 2024 Irish entry "". Enya Cox Dempsey was later revealed as the winner chosen by the jury, earning the right to represent Ireland at the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2024 in Madrid. +Show 5 – 13 October 2024 Artist Draw Song Draw Song ResultLottie O'Driscoll Murray 1"And I Am Telling You I'm Not Going" 4"Euphoria" - AdvancedIsla McManus 2"Perfect" 5"Rock 'n' Roll Kids" - EliminatedEnya Cox Dempsey 3"Driver's Licence" 6"Arcade" - Advanced
Artist Draw Song ResultLottie O'Driscoll Murray 7"" - X - 2Enya Cox Dempsey 8"" X - X 1
At Junior Eurovision The Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2024 is set to take place at in Madrid, Spain on 16 November 2024. Ireland will perform 16th of 17 participating countries, following and preceding .
Voting
At the end of the show, Ireland received 15 points from juries and 40 points from online voting, placing 15th.
+ 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 pointIreland received 40 points from the online vote
+ 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
Detailed voting results The following members comprised the Irish jury:https://junioreurovision.tv/event/madrid-2024/final/jury Mark Kelly Stephen Rosney Corissa Mulvany Norita Ní Chartúir Paula Healy + Draw Country Juror A Juror B Juror C Juror D Juror E Rank Points 01 14 6 8 8 16 12 02 5 7 13 13 12 11 03 2 5 1 11 13 3 8 04 12 8 12 12 7 14 05 6 9 3 15 14 9 2 06 3 4 2 4 3 2 10 07 15 11 11 14 8 15 08 16 10 9 3 6 8 3 09 1 1 10 6 1 1 12 10 7 12 14 2 4 6 5 11 13 13 15 1 11 10 1 12 9 14 4 5 5 7 4 13 11 16 16 16 15 16 14 10 2 6 7 2 4 7 15 4 3 5 9 9 5 6 16 17 8 15 7 10 10 13
Notes
References