Ireland participated in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2018, which took place on 25 November 2018 in Minsk, Belarus. The Irish broadcaster TG4 is responsible for organising their entry for the contest through a national selection show entitled Junior Eurovision Éire. The national final took place on 11 November 2018, while the semifinals took place between 14 October and 4 November. This was Ireland's fourth appearance at the Junior Eurovision Song Contest.
The Irish broadcaster was included in the final list of participants of the EBU, which revealed that they would be participating at Junior Eurovision for the third time in their history. The mechanism for selecting their entrant and song was through the national selection show Junior Eurovision Éire, like in their three other appearances.[3] The selection process is scheduled to take place every Sunday starting on 14 October, where thirty-two participants competed, and culminated into a final which took place on 11 November 2018.[4][5]
The first semi final was broadcast on 14 October 2018, in which Ryan O'Shaughnessy was the guest judge and the opening act.
Draw
Artist
Song
Result
Number of stars
01
Saibh Skelly
"Grian is Gealach le chéile"
Final Duel
13
02
Katie O'Connor
"Creidim i nGrá"
Eliminated
11
03
Jessica Doolan
"Aisling"
Final Duel
15
04
Faith Robinson
"Damhsa"
Eliminated
11
05
Grace O'Dwyer
"Ár nDomhan Beag"
Eliminated
11
06
Na Dynamos
"Fan Liom"
Eliminated
11
07
Kailen Garrett
"Mo Chuid Féin"
Eliminated
11
Saibh Skelly and Jessica Doolan both advanced to the final duel stage and performed their songs for the second time. After their second performances, the jury members selected Jessica Doolan as the winner of this semi-final and she advanced to the grand final on 11 November.
Semi Final 2
The second semi final was broadcast on 21 October 2018, in which Linda Martin was the guest judge and Aimee Banks was the opening act.
Draw
Artist
Song
Result
Number of stars
01
Cailíní K.L.L.
"Grá go deo"
Eliminated
10
02
Sarah Kenny
"Áit ar bith eile ach anseo"
Final Duel
13
03
Julie Cole
"Fadhb"
Eliminated
12
04
David Bradley
"Bí cróga"
Eliminated
12
05
Kerry Ann McCreery
"Tóg mo lámh"
Final Duel
13
06
Ellen Keane
"Tusa amháin"
Eliminated
12
07
Erín Ní Rosach
"Cuireann tú isteach orm"
Eliminated
10
Sarah Kenny and Kerry Ann Mc Creery advanced to the final duel stage and performed their songs for the second time. After their second performances, the jury members selected Kerry Ann McCreery as the winner of this semi-final, making her advance to the grand final on 11 November.
Semi Final 3
The third semi-final was broadcast on 28 October 2018, in which Brian Kennedy was the guest judge and Zena Donnelly was the opening act.
Draw
Artist
Song
Result
Number of stars
01
Saoirse Lynch
"Ar aghaidh linn"
Eliminated
11
02
Jemma Seery
"Níos láidre le chéile"
Eliminated
11
03
Anna and Ava
"Táimid le chéile"
Final Duel, Wildcard
13
04
Skye Murphy Darrer
"Dúchas"
Eliminated
12
05
Cora Harkin
"Cibé saol atá romham"
Final Duel
15
06
Taylor Lily Bulter
"D'amhrán"
Eliminated
10
07
Ciara Doherty
"Creid"
Eliminated
11
Anna and Ava and Cora Harkin advanced to the final duel stage and performed their songs for the second time. After their second performances, the jury members selected Cora Harkin as the winner of this semi-final, making her advance to the grand final on 11 November.
Semi Final 4
The fourth semi-final was broadcast on 4 November, in which Dustin the Turkey was the guest judge and Muireann McDonnell was the opening act.
Draw
Artist
Song
Result
Number of stars
01
Taylor Hynes
"I.O.U."
Final Duel, Wildcard
13
02
Aoibhinn Ní Craoibhínn
"Misneach"
Eliminated
12
03
Aisling Mullarkey
"Is Déagóir Mé"
Eliminated
12
04
Shaniah Llane Rollo
"Cuimhnigh ar na Réaltaí"
Final Duel
15
05
Fia Lynn
"Éist Linn"
Eliminated
10
06
Ella Meakin Griffin
"Samhlaigh Liom"
Eliminated
12
07
Aoife McNerney
"Mo Ghrá, Mo Shaol"
Eliminated
11
Taylor Hynes and Shaniah Llane Rollo advanced to the final duel of the show. After performing for a second time, the judges decided that Shaniah would advance to the final.
Final
The grand final was broadcast on 11 November. Niamh Kavanagh was the guest judge for this round. For the final, a sing-off was introduced between the top two contenders.
Taylor Hynes (born 7 February 2004) is an Irish child singer. He represented Ireland in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2018 with the song "IOU". He previously entered Junior Eurovision Eire in 2016, where he failed to make the final. He returned to the selection in 2018 and came second in his heat, however a day after his heat was broadcast, he was leaked by Belarusian TV as Ireland's Junior Eurovision entrant. He was born in Dublin, but currently lives in Clonee.
During the opening ceremony and the running order draw which both took place on 19 November 2018, Ireland was drawn to perform ninth on 25 November 2018, following Belarus and preceding Serbia.[6]
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.[7]
The online voting consisted of two phases. The first phase of the online voting began on 23 November 2018 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 Sunday 25 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 a minimum of three and a maximum of five songs.[8] 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.