Ireland was represented at the

Eurovision Song Contest 1997 The Eurovision Song Contest 1997 was the 42nd edition of the Eurovision Song Contest, held on 3 May 1997 at the Point Theatre in Dublin, Ireland. Organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and host broadcaster (RTÉ) and presented by C ...

with the song "Mysterious Woman", written by John Farry, and performed by Marc Roberts. The Irish participating broadcaster, (RTÉ), selected its entry through a national final. In addition, RTÉ was also the host broadcaster for the fourth time in five years and staged the event at the

Point Theatre The Point Theatre (sometimes referred to as the Point Depot or simply as the Point) was a concert and events venue in Dublin, Ireland, that operated from 1988 to 2007, visited by in excess of 2 million people. It was located on the North Wall ...

Dublin Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...

, for the third time in four years, after winning the with the song " The Voice" by

Eimear Quinn Eimear Mary Rose Quinn ( ; , ; born 18 December 1972) is an Irish singer and composer. She is best known for winning the Eurovision Song Contest 1996 with the song " The Voice". Since then she has toured and performed extensively international ...

Before Eurovision

''Eurosong '97''

97''

was a radio song contest started in 1995 by

RTÉ Raidió na Gaeltachta RTÉ Raidió na Gaeltachta (; "Radio of the Gaeltacht"), abbreviated RnaG, is an Irish language radio station owned and operated by Raidió Teilifís Éireann (RTÉ). The station is available on FM in Ireland and via satellite and on the inter ...

exclusively for Irish songs. The first edition of the contest was not related to ''Eurosong'', but from 1996 until 1999, the recent winner of would qualify to ''Eurosong''. The 3rd edition of took place on 22 November 1996. The running order and some of the results of 97'' are unknown.

Final

RTÉ held ''Eurosong '97'' on 9 March 1997 at the Institute of Technology in

Waterford Waterford ( ) is a City status in Ireland, city in County Waterford in the South-East Region, Ireland, south-east of Ireland. It is located within the Provinces of Ireland, province of Munster. The city is situated at the head of Waterford H ...

, hosted by

Pat Kenny Patrick Kenny (born 29 January 1948) is an Irish broadcaster, who currently hosts the daily radio show ''The Pat Kenny Show'' on Newstalk and the current affairs show ''Pat Kenny Tonight'' on Virgin Media One. Prior to this, Kenny had a 41-ye ...

. Eight entries competed in the final and the winner, "Mysterious Woman" performed by Marc Roberts, was determined by the votes of ten regional juries.

At Eurovision

Roberts performed 5th in the running order on the night of the

contest CONTEST is the United Kingdom's counter-terrorism strategy, first developed by Sir David Omand and the Home Office in early 2003 as the immediate response to 9/11, and a revised version was made public in 2006. Further revisions were publish ...

. " Mysterious Woman" went on to be placed 2nd with 157 points. To date, this was the last time that the Irish entry placed in the top five.

Voting

References

{{Eurovision Song Contest 1997

1997 Events January * January 1 – The Emergency Alert System is introduced in the United States. * January 11 – Turkey threatens Cyprus on account of a deal to buy Russian S-300 missiles, prompting the Cypriot Missile Crisis. * January 1 ...

Countries in the Eurovision Song Contest 1997

Eurovision The Eurovision Song Contest (), often known simply as Eurovision, is an international song competition organised annually by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) among its members since 1956. Each participating broadcaster submits an origina ...