Ireland: Niamh Kavanagh: “I had doubts about participating in Eurovision”

In an interview with the news agency “Irish Mirror”, Irish singer Niamh Kavanagh discussed her participation in Eurovision as well as Ireland’s overall performance in the competition.

With the song “In Your Eyes”, Niamh Kavanagh won the 1993 Eurovision Song Contest representing Ireland. Seventeen years later, she participated again, placing 23rd with “It’s For You” in the 2010 competition.

At first, she said that she was unsure about her choice to enter the competition because those close to her had persuaded her not to.

I released “The Commitments” in 1990 and people asked me, “Why are you doing that?”.

I did it because it was a great experience, and I loved the song and I did wonder whether I should do it because people didn’t take it seriously then either.

We think about it now in a different way because we look back and we were successful, but the thing is if you stand on the stage and do what you do well, then that should be enough.

She went on to discuss Ireland’s recent performance in the competition and the unfavorable comments that the artists representing the country have to deal with:

I’m always in support of whoever they send because if anyone stands up as an artist here and actually represents us, I think they deserve a medal just for that one because they get a lot of slack.

They don’t necessarily get the support that they need when they go and I think that is a bit unfair because if they are up doing their best, we have to be in support of that. The only way that changes is if people get the support and encouragement to feel that this is going to be a positive experience for them, and it should be positive.

We don’t have to win to do well in it. We just have to be chasing a win. The win will come when we concentrate on what we do well in this country. There’s a lot of great talent but they don’t want to get involved in it because immediately when you’re involved in the selection process people say the same thing.

You may listen Niamh Kavanagh’s two Eurovision entries, from 1993 and 2010, respectively, below:

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Source: Irish Mirror