“CHRONIC UNDERFUNDING” IS partly to blame for Ireland’s poor showing at the Eurovision.
That’s according to Michael Kealy, who is RTÉ’s head of the Eurovision delegation.
He was speaking on The Ray D’Arcy Show on RTÉ Radio 1 on Wednesday following the failure of Irish entry Wild Youth to make it through to this year’s Eurovision grand final.
Ireland has now failed to qualify for the grand final on eight of our last 10 attempts, despite holding the record for the most Eurovision wins at seven.
Kealy said Wild Youth were “devastated” to have not made it past the semi-finals and noted that the event is a “pressure cooker”.
“Even standing on that stage, when you’re not performing in an empty arena, is terrifying enough. Nothing really can prepare you for the enormity of the Eurovision venue when you walk out onto that stage.
“It’s not like you’re doing a full hour and a half set where you get three or four songs to warm up. You’ve got to be on fire from the first second that you’re on.”
Wild Youth were selected as Ireland’s Eurovision entry following a competition on The Late Late Show.
When asked by Ray D’Arcy if Ireland’s selection process needs to be separated from The Late Late Show, Kealy said that the programme has “served us well because it has been the only vehicle of a sufficient scale that we can do”.
However, he also described it as “very limited” and added: “I’m not going to win any popularity contests for saying this, but RTÉ has been chronically underfunded, I think, for decades and it shows particularly when it comes to us putting on entertainment shows.
“We do news and current affairs and sports and all sorts of other shows quite well, and very well in lots of cases.
“But when it comes to entertainment, you need scale to make it look as impressive as a show that you would see in other European countries. The truth is, our facilities in RTÉ aren’t sufficient to mount shows like that.”
Kealy also said that Ireland’s studio facilities compare unfavourably to other European countries of a similar size and population, like Finland and Austria.
When pressed on how he feels about his role as the head of the Eurovision delegation, Kealey said: “I enjoy doing this and I’ll do it as long as RTÉ want me to do it.
“I’m not the most popular person on social media among some of the fans but I always think of it as something a bit like, if I can torture an analogy here, a bit like a rundown train running on a poorly maintained track and it’s always late.
“Is getting rid of the driver going to fix it or do you invest in the infrastructure to improve the actual train itself? So that would be my view.
“I don’t know if that’s any help to anybody but the bottom line is I still enjoy doing it and I’ll do it as long as RTÉ wants me to.”
Kealy added that he didn’t know if the Eurovision selection process will be separated from The Late Late Show next year and said: “That will be a conversation to have with the heads of the entertainment department in RTÉ and with the incoming Late Late Show team.”
The head of Ireland’s Eurovision delegation also said that Wild Youth “had a very clear vision of what they wanted to do” and that lead singer Conor O’Donohoe “wanted the gold look and wanted to wear the spangly gold outfit”.
When asked if he had any say in the stage show, Kealy said: “My job isn’t to impose my artistic vision on them. My job is just to help them realise their own artistic vision to the best of their ability and our ability and to make it work from a Eurovision point of view as well.
“The best thing that I can do is to help an artist realise their vision and their potential on the stage.
“I’ll advise them if I think something could be done slightly better or slightly differently and I’m there to really make sure that we’re getting the best possible use of the cameras that are available and the use of the lighting and all that kind of stuff.”
Kealey also denied that entry for acts to the competition is a “closed shop situation”.
Kealey said: “It’s not a closed shop. We advertised for people to send in songs, that’s open to anybody who wants to send in a song.
“I don’t limit it to a certain set of artists or individuals. Anybody who wants to send a song can send it in and they are all listened to and they are not just listened to by me.
“They are listened to by a panel of 30 or 40 different people.”
He also noted that Ireland has tried many methods over the past decade in terms of deciding on Ireland’s entry to the Eurovision.
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