Ireland in The Eurovision Song Contest 2008 - at Eurovision

At Eurovision

Since Ireland came last in the Eurovision Song Contest 2007, Dustin was obliged to perform his song in one of the two semi-finals of the 2008 contest. The EBU split up countries with a friendly voting history into the two different semi-finals, to give a better chance to other countries to win. On 28 January 2008, the EBU held a special draw which determined that Ireland would be in the first semi-final, held on 20 May 2008.

Dana, one of the judges at Eurosong, spoke out against Dustin's entry, calling it a "mockery of the competition" and calling for Dustin and RTÉ to withdraw from the contest. The entry was also said to have been in breach of the rules of the contest, due to the mocking nature that could "bring the Shows or the ESC as such into disrepute", however, the song was not disqualified. Due to the controversial nature of his entry, Dustin received widespread publicity over his entry before and after his victory. He was mentioned in Spanish media before winning Eurosong and after his victory, Dustin appeared on This Morning, a popular British morning programme on ITV, during Saint Patrick's Day celebrations.

For the contest, the commentator for the semi-finals and final on RTÉ One and Two was Marty Whelan, while the commentator for RTÉ Radio 1 was Larry Gogan.