Ireland in the Eurovision Song Contest 1968

The contestants in the Irish National Final were decided by two semi-finals, where three were chosen from the first which was held on 6 February with the second being held on 20 February. The Final was held on 3 March 1968 and was broadcast on RTÉ TV in Dublin, Ireland. All three shows were hosted by Brendan O'Reilly.

Ireland was represented by Pat McGeegan, with the song "Chance of a Lifetime", at the 1968 Eurovision Song Contest, which took place on 6 April in London. The song was chosen in the fourth National Song Contest held on 3 March 1968.

National Song Contest
The fourth National Song Contest consisted of two semi-finals and a final, which were held in the RTÉ Studios in Dublin, Ireland and hosted by Brendan O'Reilly. This was the first time that an Irish national final had a semi-final and remained the only time until 1996.

Competing Entries
RTÉ opened a submission period for composers to submit songs between 27 October 1967 and 1 January 1968. Composers had to be Irish-born or live in Ireland and could only submit a maximum of two songs each. RTÉ selected 16 songs from the received submissions.

Semi-Finals
Almost all of the running order and exact results for the semi-finals are unknown. Although three songs were intended to qualify from each semi-final, a mistake where song 'M' ("Gleann Na Smól") was accidentally announced as having qualified instead of song 'N' ("Chance of a Lifetime"), meant that both songs qualified from the second semi-final.

Final
The final was held on 3 March 1968 in the RTÉ Studios in Dublin, Ireland and hosted by Brendan O'Reilly. The results were decided by 10 regional juries.

At Eurovision
Ireland started at number 14 in the startfield and finished 4th with 18 points.