As we head into the Junior Eurovision 2024 season, TG4 revealed details about their upcoming national selection to ESCPlus. The competition will run over five weeks, with the finale on 13th October, and will be presented once again by radio host Louise Cantillon.
Junior Eurovision Eire 2024
This year, Junior Eurovision Eire will run on Sundays from September 15th to October 13th. Each episode will begin at 20:30 local time. In the first episode, presenter Louise Cantillon–a radio host who also served as Ireland’s Junior Eurovision commentator in 2021–will travel around Ireland to visit Junior Eurovision hopefuls. Ultimately, ten finalists will be chosen, and the second through fifth episodes will show their rehearsal process. This allows viewers to get to know the competitors before the finale on October 13th. However, Ireland’s competing song will not be selected through the competition; TG4 will internally select this year.
Singer Niamh Ní Chróinín will serve on the jury, while Eurovision alum Brooke Scullion and Tadhg Ó Grifín will make special appearances.
With these changes from last year’s edition, including a reduced number of contestants, TG4 aims to improve on Ireland’s 2023 result. Last year, Jessica McKean and her song “Aisling” placed last. 2024 will be Ireland’s ninth year competing at Junior Eurovision.
What we know about Junior Eurovision 2024
As France won the 2023 contest on home soil, French broadcaster France Télévisions had the right of first refusal to host the 2024 contest; they chose not to host the contest. Consequently, the EBU has given hosting honours to Spain, who placed second in Nice with Sandra Valero’s “Loviu”. This year’s competition will take place on Saturday, the 16th of November at Caja Mágica, with the venue holding up to 6,000 spectators.
The competing countries and their representative (where applicable) are as follows:
- 🇦🇱 Albania
- 🇦🇲 Armenia
- 🇨🇾 Cyprus – Maria Pissarides
- 🇪🇪 Estonia – Annabelle Atts
- 🇫🇷 France
- 🇩🇪 Germany – Bjarne
- 🇬🇪 Georgia – Andria Putkaradze
- 🇮🇪 Ireland
- 🇮🇹 Italy
- 🇲🇹 Malta
- 🇳🇱 Netherlands
- 🇵🇹 Portugal – Victoria Nicole
- 🇲🇰 North Macedonia – Ana Vanchevska & Aleksej Ivanovski
- 🇵🇱 Poland
- 🇸🇲 San Marino
- 🇪🇸 Spain (Host Country) – Chloe DelaRosa
- 🇺🇦 Ukraine
Ireland’s Junior Eurovision journey
Ireland first participated in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest in 2015. Débuting alongside Australia, Ireland was represented by Aimee Banks singing ” Réalta na Mara”. At the close of voting, Ireland finished in 12th place, receiving 36 points. Ireland has since participated a further eight times. Their best placement came in 2022, when Sophie Lennon finished in fourth place with her song “Solas”.
In 2023, Jessica McKean represented Ireland in Nice with her song “Aisling”. She finished 16th in a field of 16, earning 42 points: 8 from professional juries, and 34 from the online vote.
Are you excited for Ireland’s Junior Eurovision 2024 participation? Will you be watching Junior Eurovision Eire? As always, please let us know what you think by getting involved in the comments below. Also, be sure to follow ‘That Eurovision Site’ on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, TikTok, Threads and Bluesky for more information about Junior Eurovision!
News Source: TG4/ESCPlus
Photo Credit: Corinne Cumming/EBU
Tim J