| Year: | 2001 |
| Country: | Ireland |
| Preselection: | Eurosong 2001 |
| Preselection Date: | 25 February 2001 |
| Entrant: | Gary O'Shaughnessy |
| Song: | Without Your Love |
| Final Result: | 21st, 6 points |
| Next: | 2003 |
Ireland participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2001 with the song "Without Your Love" written by Pat Sheridan. The song was performed by Gary O'Shaughnessy. The Irish broadcaster Raidió Teilifís Éireann (RTÉ) organised the national final Eurosong 2001 in order to select the Irish entry for the 2001 contest in Copenhagen, Denmark. Seven songs faced a regional televote, ultimately resulting in the selection of "Without Your Love" performed by Gary O'Shaughnessy as the Irish Eurovision entry.
Ireland competed in the Eurovision Song Contest which took place on 12 May 2001. Performing during the show in position 12, Ireland placed twenty-first out of the 23 participating countries, scoring 6 points.
See main article: Ireland in the Eurovision Song Contest. Prior to the 2001 Contest, Ireland had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest thirty-five 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 2000, "Millennium of Love" performed by Eamonn Toal placed sixth.
The Irish national broadcaster, Raidió Teilifís Éireann (RTÉ), broadcasts the event within Ireland and organises the selection process for the nation's entry. 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 2001 Eurovision Song Contest, RTÉ announced the organisation of Eurosong 2001 to choose the artist and song to represent Ireland at the contest.
Eurosong 2001 was the national final format developed by RTÉ in order to select Ireland's entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2001. The broadcaster opened a submission period where artists and composers were able to submit their entries for the competition until 29 October 2000, and a jury panel selected the eight finalists after reviewing all of the submissions received at the closing of the deadline.[1] The finalists were announced on 6 February 2001 during a press conference which took place at the Club Annabel in Dublin and was hosted by former contest winner Dana.[2] On 16 February 2001, "Gypsy Blue", written and to have been performed by Thom Moore, was disqualified from the national final as the song had been performed in 2000 at the Dun Laoghaire Song Contest, thus violating the rule that barred songs from being released before the competition.[3] [4] [5]
The national final took place on 25 February 2001 at the RTÉ Television Centre in Dublin, hosted by Louise Loughman and was broadcast on RTÉ One as well as online via RTÉ's official website rte.ie. The show was also broadcast in the United Kingdom on Tara Television.[6] Following a regional televote, "Without Your Love" performed by Gary O'Shaughnessy was selected as the winner.[7] [8] Runner-up InFocus received the most overall votes with 13,356 votes, which was followed by third-placed act Fe-Mail with 12,271 votes and O'Shaughnessy with 11,653 votes.[9]
| Draw | Artist | Song | Songwriter(s) | Points | Place | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | James Peake | "Who Said I Pray" | Gerry Morgan | 41 | 5 | |
| 2 | InFocus | "Every Kiss Is a Lie" | Kevin Breathnach, Billy Larkin | 70 | 2 | |
| 3 | Gavin McCormack | "I'll Be With You" | Tommy Quinn | 34 | 6 | |
| 4 | David Murphy | "Katie Lovely" | David Murphy | 31 | 7 | |
| 5 | Fe-Mail | "Undertow" | Paul Swan | 63 | 3 | |
| 6 | Gary O'Shaughnessy | "Without Your Love" | Pat Sheridan | 74 | 1 | |
| 7 | Emma Reynolds | "The Innocent Days" | Gerry Morgan | 51 | 4 |
| Draw | Song | Waterford | Cork | Limerick | Galway | Sligo | Dundalk | Dublin | Total | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | "Who Said I Pray" | 6 | 5 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 41 | |
| 2 | "Every Kiss is a Lie" | 8 | 10 | 8 | 10 | 12 | 10 | 12 | 70 | |
| 3 | "I'll Be With You" | 5 | 4 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 34 | |
| 4 | "Katie Lovely" | 4 | 7 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 31 | |
| 5 | "Undertow" | 10 | 8 | 10 | 8 | 7 | 12 | 8 | 63 | |
| 6 | "Without Your Love" | 12 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 8 | 8 | 10 | 74 | |
| 7 | "The Innocent Days" | 7 | 6 | 7 | 7 | 10 | 7 | 7 | 51 |
The Eurovision Song Contest 2001 took place at Parken Stadium in Copenhagen, Denmark, on 12 May 2001.[10] The relegation rules introduced for the 1997 contest were again utilised ahead of the 2001 contest, based on each country's average points total in previous contests. The 23 participants were made up of the host country, the "Big Four" countries (France, Germany, Spain and the United Kingdom), and the 12 countries with the highest average scores between the 1996 and 2000 contests competed in the final.[11] On 21 November 2000, an allocation draw was held which determined the running order and Ireland was set to perform in position 12, following the entry from Portugal and before the entry from Spain.[12] Ireland finished in twenty-first place scoring 6 points.[13] [14]
In Ireland, the contest was broadcast on RTÉ One with commentary by Marty Whelan.[15] [16] The Irish spokesperson, who announced the results of the Irish televote during the final, was Bláthnaid Ní Chofaigh.
Below is a breakdown of points awarded to Ireland and awarded by Ireland in the contest. The nation awarded its 12 points to Denmark in the contest.