Ireland in the Eurovision Song Contest 2004

Ireland participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2004 with the song "If My World Stopped Turning" written by Brian McFadden and Jonathan Shorten. The song was performed by Chris Doran. The Irish entry for the 2004 contest in Istanbul, Turkey was selected through the second season of the music competition series You're a Star, organised by the Irish broadcaster Raidió Teilifís Éireann (RTÉ). The competition consisted of 14 shows and concluded with a final, resulting in the selection of "If My World Stopped Turning" performed by Chris Doran as the Irish Eurovision entry after facing a public televote.

As one of ten highest placed finishers in the 2003 contest, Ireland directly qualified to compete in the final of the Eurovision Song Contest which took place on 15 May 2004. Performing in position 18, Ireland placed twenty-second out of the 24 participating countries with 7 points.

Background
Prior to the 2004 Contest, Ireland had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest thirty-seven times since its first entry in 1965. Ireland has won the contest a record seven times in total. The country's first win came in 1970, with then-18-year-old Dana winning with "All Kinds of Everything". Ireland holds the record for being the only country to win the contest three times in a row (in 1992, 1993 and 1994), as well as having the only three-time winner (Johnny Logan, who won in 1980 as a singer, 1987 as a singer-songwriter, and again in 1992 as a songwriter). The Irish entry in 2003, "We've Got the World" performed by Mickey Joe Harte placed eleventh.

The Irish national broadcaster, Raidió Teilifís Éireann (RTÉ), broadcasts the event within Ireland and organises the selection process for the nation's entry. RTÉ confirmed their intentions to participate at the 2004 Eurovision Song Contest on 29 July 2003. RTÉ has consistently used a national final procedure to choose the entry to represent Ireland at the contest, with several artists and songs being featured. For the 2004 contest, RTÉ announced alongside their confirmation that both the song and performer for the contest would be selected via the talent contest You're a Star.

You're a Star
Ireland's entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2004 was selected through the second season of the music competition series You're a Star, which was developed by RTÉ and co-produced with ShinAwil Productions. The shows took place in the Mahoney Hall of the Helix in the Dublin City University (DCU), hosted by Ray D'Arcy and featured a judging panel composed of composer and musician Phil Coulter, singer and former Eurovision winner Linda Martin and music manager Louis Walsh. The competition consisted of 14 shows, which commenced on 16 November 2003 and concluded on 6 March 2004. All shows in the competition were broadcast on RTÉ One.

The competition took place over two phases. The first phase involved over 5,000 candidates attending auditions held across Ireland in Letterkenny, Ennis, Longford, Waterford and Dublin. The first five shows showcased the auditions and selected a total of 13 contestants to go forward to the next stage in the competition. Ten of the contestants were selected following a public televote (two per audition city) with the remaining three selected by the judging panel (one per judge). The second phase was the nine live shows where the results of all shows were determined solely by a public televote; the judging panel participated in an advisory role only. Following the sixth show, the four contestants remaining in the competition were matched with a potential Eurovision Song Contest song for them to perform in the eighth and ninth shows. The competing songs were selected by a jury panel with members appointed by RTÉ, which included RTÉ Head of Music Kevin Linehan and two of the competition judges Linda Martin and Louis Walsh, from over 300 entries received through a public submission. The public televote that took place in both phases was conducted through telephone and SMS.

Results summary

 * Colour key
 * – Contestant received the most public votes
 * – Contestant received the fewest public votes and was eliminated

Live shows
The nine live shows took place between 11 January and 6 March 2004. The first seven shows featured various themes: free choice for the first two shows, Irish songs for the third show, American songs for the fourth show, The Beatles' hits for the fifth show, love songs for the sixth show, and country songs and Eurovision songs for the seventh show. Either one or two contestants were eliminated in each of the seven shows. The three remaining contestants each performed their candidate Eurovision songs during the eighth show and one contestant was eliminated. One of the candidate songs "The Moon Going Home" was not performed after its assigned performer, George Murphy, was eliminated during the seventh show. "If My World Stopped Turning" performed by Chris Doran was selected as the winner following the final show and announced the day after on 7 March 2004. Over 900,000 televotes were cast during the final show.

Guest judges also featured in several shows: producer Bill Hughes for the first show, journalist Nell McCafferty for the second show, RTÉ 2fm presenter Dave Fanning for the fifth show, disc jockey Ryan Tubridy for the sixth show, former member of Boyzone Keith Duffy for the seventh show and You're a Star first season winner Mickey Harte for the eighth show.

At Eurovision
It was announced that the competition's format would be expanded to include a semi-final in 2004. According to the rules, all nations with the exceptions of the host country, the "Big Four" (France, Germany, Spain and the United Kingdom) and the ten highest placed finishers in the 2003 contest are required to qualify from the semi-final in order to compete for the final; the top ten countries from the semi-final progress to the final. As Ireland finished joint 11th in the 2003 contest, the nation automatically qualified to compete in the final on 15 May 2004. On 23 March 2004, an allocation draw was held which determined the running order and Ireland was set to perform in position 18 in the final, following the entry from Iceland and before the entry from Poland. Ireland placed twenty-second in the final, scoring 7 points.

In Ireland, the semi-final was broadcast on RTÉ Network 2 and the final was broadcast on RTÉ One with both shows featuring commentary by Marty Whelan. The Irish spokesperson, who announced the Irish votes during the final, was Johnny Logan who previously won the Eurovision Song Contest for Ireland in 1980 and 1987.

Voting
Below is a breakdown of points awarded to Ireland and awarded by Ireland in the semi-final and grand final of the contest. The nation awarded its 12 points to the Netherlands in the semi-final and to Sweden in the final of the contest.