Ireland in the Eurovision Song Contest 2005

Ireland participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2005 with the song "Love?" written by Karl Broderick. The song was performed by Donna and Joe. The Irish entry for the 2005 contest in Kyiv, Ukraine was selected through the third season of the music competition series You're a Star, organised by the Irish broadcaster Raidió Teilifís Éireann (RTÉ). The competition consisted of 17 shows and concluded with a final, resulting in the selection of "Love?" performed by Donna and Joe as the Irish Eurovision entry after facing a public televote.

Ireland competed in the semi-final of the Eurovision Song Contest which took place on 19 May 2005. Performing during the show in position 22, "Love?" was not announced among the top 10 entries of the semi-final and therefore did not qualify to compete in the final. It was later revealed that Ireland placed fourteenth out of the 25 participating countries in the semi-final with 53 points.

Background
Prior to the 2005 Contest, Ireland had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest thirty-eight 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 2004, "If My World Stopped Turning" performed by Chris Doran placed twenty-second.

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 2005 Eurovision Song Contest on 29 May 2004. 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. Since 2003, RTÉ had set up the talent contest You're a Star to choose both the song and performer to compete at Eurovision for Ireland. For the 2005 Eurovision Song Contest, RTÉ alongside their confirmation that both the song and performer for the contest would be selected via You're a Star.

You're a Star
Ireland's entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2005 was selected through the third season of the music competition series You're a Star, which was developed by RTÉ and co-produced with Screentime ShinAwil. 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 RTÉ 2fm presenter Dave Fanning, IMRO Deputy Chairperson Barbara Galavan and singer-songwriter Hazel Kaneswaran. The competition consisted of 17 shows, which commenced on 11 September 2004 and concluded on 6 March 2005. All shows in the competition were broadcast on RTÉ One.

The competition took place over two phases. The first phase involved candidates attending auditions held across Ireland in Limerick, Waterford, Sligo, Dublin and Portlaoise (bands only) between 11 September 2004 and 16 October 2004. The first three shows showcased the auditions and the judging panel selected 36 candidates to take part in a week-long workshop where they were supported by a team of choreographers, stylists and vocal coaches. The fourth to sixth shows covered the workshop with ten contestants being selected by the judges to go forward to the next stage in the competition. The seventh show introduced eight wildcards selected by the judges from the eliminated acts with two being selected to also go through to the next stage following a public televote. The second phase was the ten 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 ninth show, the three contestants remaining in the competition were matched with a potential Eurovision Song Contest song selected by a jury panel with members appointed by RTÉ from 255 entries received through a public submission. The three finalist songs were announced on 2 March 2005. 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 ten live shows took place between 9 January and 6 March 2005. The first eight shows featured various themes: free choice for the first three shows, well known recent hits for the fourth shows, summer songs for the fifth show, Motown love songs for the sixth show, Elvis Presley songs for the seventh show as well as movie soundtracks and Eurovision songs for the eighth show. Either one or two contestants were eliminated in each of the eight shows. The three remaining contestants each performed their candidate Eurovision songs during the ninth show and one contestant was eliminated. In the final show, "Love?" performed by Donna and Joseph McCaul was selected as the winner.

At Eurovision
The Eurovision Song Contest 2005 took place at the Palace of Sports in Kyiv, Ukraine and consisted of one semi-final on 19 May, and the final on 21 May 2005. According to Eurovision 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 2004 contest were required to qualify from the semi-final in order to compete for the final; the top ten countries from the semi-final progressed to the final. As Ireland had placed 22nd in the previous contest, the nation had to compete in the semi-final this year. On 22 March 2005, an allocation draw was held which determined the running order for the semi-final and Ireland was set to perform in position 22, following the entry from Bulgaria and before the entry from Slovenia. At the end of the show, Ireland was not announced among the top 10 entries in the semi-final and therefore failed to qualify to compete in the final. It was later revealed that Ireland placed 14th in the semi-final, receiving a total of 53 points.

In Ireland, the semi-final was broadcast on RTÉ Two 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 Dana who previously won the Eurovision Song Contest for Ireland in 1970.

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 Denmark in the semi-final and to Latvia in the final of the contest.