RTE confirms Ireland’s participation in Eurovision 2018

RTE, the Irish national broadcaster, has confirmed that Ireland will participate at the forthcoming 2018 Eurovision Song Contest in Portugal.
The mechanism RTE would use to select the Irish entry is still undecided.

Brendan Was ‘Dying to Try’

This year, Ireland was represented by Brendan Murray, who was a member of the Irish boyband ‘Hometown’ and is mentored by Louis Walsh.

However, despite delivering a great performance, Ireland failed to qualify for the final for the 4th year in a row.
They managed to achieve 13th place in the semi final (improving on their 15th place finish in Stockholm), gaining 41 televoting points and 45 jury points.

Ireland at the Eurovision Song Contest

Ireland currently holds the record for most wins in the contest, with the nation winning 7 times:

• 1970 – Dana – All Kinds of Everything
• 1980 – Johnny Logan – What’s Another Year?
• 1987 – Johnny Logan – Hold Me Now
• 1992 – Linda Martin – Why Me?
• 1993 – Niamh Kavanagh – In Your Eyes
• 1994 – Paul Harrington & Charlie McGettigan – Rock n Roll Kids
• 1996 – Eimear Quinn – The Voice

However, since the change in voting mechanisms and the introduction of the Semi-Finals in the 00’s, Ireland has not had much luck winning (or even qualifying for the Grand Final).
In the beginning of the decade, Ireland had a bit of luck, qualifying for the Grand Final between 2010-2013 and achieving their best result in this century in 2011.
However, their luck ran out and the most successful country in the contest has not qualified for the Grand Final since 2014. Will their participation in 2018 break this unlucky streak?
What do you think? Do you think RTE will select the right mechanism in order to qualify for the final in Lisbon? Or do you think they can achieve their 8th win? Leave us your comments and opinions below.