Ireland was represented at the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2025 with the song "", written by Ian James White, Jenny Ní Ruiséil, Nicky Brennan and Rob O'Connor, and performed by Lottie O'Driscoll Murray. The Irish participating broadcaster, TG4, selected O'Driscoll Murray as its representative through the national final 2025, while the song "" was internally selected.
Background
Prior to the 2025 contest, TG4 had participated in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest representing Ireland nine times since its debut in ; TG4 originally intended to make its debut , but required funding from the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland (BAI), which was rejected. Ireland first entered the top ten in , with "" by Zena Donnelly ending 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 the song "" by Sophie Lennon finished 4th with 150 points. In , "" by Enya Cox Dempsey ended up in 15th place with 55 points.
Unlike in the Eurovision Song Contest, where (RTÉ) is the broadcaster representing Ireland, the Irish-language broadcaster TG4, also a full member of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), is the Irish participating broadcaster in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest.
Before Junior Eurovision
Junior Eurovision 2025 TG4 confirmed its intention to participate in the 2025 contest on 21 January 2025, also revealing that it would once again use the national selection format , co-produced with Adare Productions, to select its artist, and opened the submission process for interested artists aged between nine and fourteen. Auditions for the show took place in Dublin, Cork and Athlone, while the selection process was filmed in the Irish capital during the summer of 2025.
Further details of the competition were announced on 24 August 2025. Louise Cantillon returned to host the show for the fifth time in a row. Niamh Ní Chróinín returned as permanent judges, along with the addition Hugh Carr.
Participants The ten participants competing in the 2025 edition were revealed at the end of the first show:
Holly Lennon Lia and Olivia Teagan Farrell Abbie Flatley Isla McManus Aodán Murphy Peter Byrne Na Feirmeoirí Lottie O'Driscoll Murray Brooke Stanton
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 permanent judges are:
Niamh Ní Chróinín – Radio presenter, manager of Irish-language youth radio station Raidió Rí-Rá Hugh Carr – Radio presenter on RTÉ 2fm
+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="4" rowspan="2" Emmy"Laika Party"1328
First round The second show was broadcast on 28 September 2025, with Brooke Scullion as the guest judge. As happened during the previous edition, 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. Na Feirmeoirí and Aodán Murphy did not advance, while the remaining eight contestants progressed to the next round. +Show 2 – 28 September 2025 Artist Song Result 1Isla McManus"Torn" Advanced 2Peter Byrne"Believe" Advanced 3Teagan Farrell"Skinny Love" Advanced4Na Feirmeoirí"Teenage Dirtbag" Eliminated 5Brooke Stanton"I Wanna Be a Cowboy, Baby!" Advanced 6Lottie O'Driscoll Murray"Hold Me While You Wait" Advanced 7Abbie Flatley"Leave a Light On" Advanced 8Lia and Olivia"Falling Slowly" Advanced9Aodán Murphy"Unchained Melody" Eliminated 10Holly Lennon"Castles" Advanced
Second round The third show was broadcast on 5 October 2025, 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. Teagan Farrell and Holly Lennon did not advance to the next round, while the remaining six contestants progressed to the semi-final. +Show 3 – 5 October 2025 Artist Song Result 1Lottie O'Driscoll Murray"I Will Always Love You" Advanced 2Brooke Stanton"Need You Now" Advanced 3Teagan Farrell"Relight My Fire" Eliminated 4Lia and Olivia"These Days" Advanced 5Isla McManus"Someone You Loved" Advanced 6Abbie Flatley"If I Could Turn Back Time" Advanced7Holly Lennon"Drivers License" Eliminated 8Peter Byrne"Grace" Advanced
Semi-final The fourth show was broadcast on 12 October 2025, with Emmy 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. Abbie Flatley, Peter Byrne and the duo formed by Lia and Olivia did not advance, while the final three contestants qualified for the final. +Show 4 – 12 October 2025ArtistSong Result 1Brooke Stanton"Brave" Advanced 2Lottie O'Driscoll Murray"Stay" Advanced3Abbie Flatley"When the Party's Over" Eliminated 4Isla McManus"Too Good at Goodbyes" Advanced5Peter Byrne"Take My Hand" Eliminated6Lia and Olivia"Cheerleader" Eliminated
Final The fifth and final show took place on 19 October 2025, 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 Isla McManus and Lottie O'Driscoll Murray as the top 2, they performed another Irish-language cover from the previous weeks. Fourteen-year-old Lottie O'Driscoll was later revealed as the winner chosen by the jury, earning the right to represent Ireland at the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2025 in Tbilisi. +Show 5 – 19 October 2025ArtistSong Song ResultBrooke Stanton 1"I Wanna Be a Cowboy, Baby!" 4"Only Teardrops" - EliminatedLottie O'Driscoll Murray 2"Hold Me While You Wait" 5"Hold Me Now" - AdvancedIsla McManus 3"Torn" 6"Space Man" - Advanced ArtistSong ResultLottie O'Driscoll Murray"I Will Always Love You" - X X 1Isla McManus"Someone You Loved" X - - 2
Promotion and preparation As part of the promotion of her participation in the contest, Lottie O'Driscoll Murray met with Georgian ambassador to Ireland Sophie Katsarava in November 2025. On 7 December 2025, TG4 aired a show featuring interviews with the singers who have represented Ireland at the contest and an overview of O'Driscoll Murray's Eurovision journey, titled ("Junior Eurovision: the tenth star"), in order to mark ten years since the country's debut.
At Junior Eurovision The Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2025 will take place at the Gymnastic Hall of Olympic City in Tbilisi, Georgia on 13 December 2025. On 4 November 2025, an allocation draw was held to determine the running order of the contest, ahead of which each song was classified into a different category based on its musical style and tempo. Ireland was drawn to perform in position 7, following the entry from and before the entry from the .
In Ireland, the event was broadcast on TG4.
Voting
At the end of the show, Ireland received 3 points from juries and 41 points from online voting, placing 18th out of 18. This was Ireland's second last place in the history of the contest.
+ 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 Ireland received 41 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/tbilisi-2025/final/jury Neil Farren Rossa Ó Síoradáin Lucy Hayward-O'Leary Keira Holmes Sophia Mantu
+ Draw Country Juror A Juror B Juror C Juror D Juror E Rank Points 01 7 13 3 12 15 10 1 02 16 17 17 17 17 17 03 10 10 12 5 8 13 04 8 12 5 8 7 9 2 05 6 6 1 4 2 3 8 06 9 7 6 15 4 8 3 07 08 15 15 10 13 12 15 09 3 9 14 14 9 11 10 5 5 9 3 11 6 5 11 1 14 11 6 13 7 4 12 17 8 13 16 14 14 13 11 2 7 9 3 5 6 14 14 11 8 2 1 4 7 15 4 4 2 1 6 1 12 16 13 16 16 11 16 16 17 2 1 4 7 5 2 10 18 12 3 15 10 10 12
References