Ireland competed in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2023, which was held on 26 November 2023 in Nice, France.[1] Irish broadcaster TG4 again used the televised national final Junior Eurovision Éire to select the artist, which was won by Jessica McKean. Her song, "Aisling", was released on 27 October.
Ireland performed fourth in the running order, following the entry from Ukraine and preceding the entry from the United Kingdom. In a reversal of fortune from 2022, Ireland achieved its first last placing ever in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest, finishing in sixteenth place with 42 points.
Prior to the 2023 contest, Ireland had participated in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest seven times since its debut in 2015.[2] In 2022, Sophie Lennon represented Ireland with the song "Solas". She finished 4th with 150 points and achieved Ireland's best result ever.[3]
Before Junior Eurovision
Junior Eurovision Éire 2023
Irish broadcaster TG4 once again used the national selection format Junior Eurovision Éire to select its representative. The details of the competition were revealed on 22 August 2023. Louise Cantillon returned to host the show for the third time in a row, with Darragh Ó Caoimh serving as a co-host for the second year in a row. As in previous editions, an in-studio jury decided the results in the four heats and semi-final. As with the past two editions of the contest, the participants in Junior Eurovision Éire performed Irish-language cover versions of famous songs during the competition.
Jury members
As in previous editions, the results of the four heats and semi-final 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
Aindriú de Paor – RTÉ 2fm, RTÉ Sport and Spórt TG4 presenter
The first heat was broadcast on 3 September 2023, with Brooke Scullion as the guest judge. Gilian Brennan received the highest number of stars and advanced directly to the semi-final, while Liza O'Neil and Sophia Connolly Deane advanced to the sing-off stage and performed their covers a second time. After their second performances, the jury members selected Liza as the winner, granting her a spot in the semi-final.[4]
The second heat was broadcast on 10 September 2023, with Niamh Kavanagh as the guest judge. Clare Keeley received the highest number of stars and advanced directly to the semi-final, while Jessica McKean and Charlotte Mackey advanced to the sing-off stage and performed their covers a second time. After their second performances, the jury members selected Jessica as the winner, granting her a spot in the semi-final.[5]
The third heat was broadcast on 17 September 2023, with Ryan O'Shaughnessy as the guest judge. Ellen McGloughlin received the highest number of stars and advanced directly to the semi-final, while Niamh Beatrix Smith and Grace Ruane advanced to the sing-off stage and performed their covers a second time. After their second performances, the jury members selected Niamh Beatrix as the winner, granting her a spot in the semi-final.[6]
The fourth heat was broadcast on 24 September 2023, with Conor O'Donohoe as the guest judge. Sarah Burke received the highest number of stars and advanced directly to the semi-final, while Juliette Maguire and Lily-May Markham advanced to the sing-off stage and performed their covers a second time. After their second performances, the jury members selected Juliette as the winner, granting her a spot in the semi-final.[7]
The semi-final was broadcast on 1 October 2023, with Brian Kennedy as the guest judge. Clare Keeley and Niamh Beatrix Mith were both chosen by the jury to advance directly to the final. Jessica McKean and Liza O'Neil were both chosen to go through the sing-off stage and performed their covers a second time. After their second performances, the jury members selected Jessica as the winner, granting her a spot in the final.[8]
The final took place on 8 October 2023, with Mickey Joe Harte as the guest judge. The jury of two permanent members and one rotating member was present once again to give feedback to the contestants, but did not have any voting power. For the second year in a row, the winner was selected exclusively by public online vote that ran on the TG4 Junior Eurovision website from 1 October, after the semi-final was broadcast, until the end of a 15-minute voting period during the final broadcast.[9] The final had an average viewership of 19,700, and a total viewership of 104,000.[10]
The Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2023 took place at Palais Nikaïa in Nice, France on 26 November 2023.
Voting
The same voting system that was introduced in the 2017 edition was used, where the results were determined by 50% online voting and 50% jury voting. Every country had a national jury that consisted of three music industry professionals and two children aged between 10 and 15 who were citizens of the country they represented. The rankings of those jurors were combined to make an overall top ten.[11]
The online voting consisted of two phases. The first phase of the online voting began on 24 November 2023 when a recap of all the rehearsal performances was shown on the contest's website Junioreurovision.tv before the viewers could vote. After this, voters also had the option to watch longer one-minute clips from each participant's rehearsal. This first round of voting ended on 26 November at 15:59 CET. The second phase of the online voting took place during the live show and began right after the last performance and was open for 15 minutes. International viewers were able vote for three songs.[12] They were also able to vote for their own country's song. These votes were then turned into points which were determined by the percentage of votes received. For example, if a song received 10% of the votes, it received 10% of the available points.
At the end of the show, Ireland received 8 points from juries and 34 points from online voting, placing sixteenth out of sixteen. This was Ireland's first last place in the history of the contest.[13]
