Ireland in the Eurovision Song Contest 1986

Eurovision Song Contest 1986
Country	Ireland
National selection
Selection process	National Song Contest 1986
Selection date(s)	30 March 1986
Selected entrant	Luv Bug
Selected song	"You Can Count on Me"
Finals performance
Final result	4th, 96 points
Ireland in the Eurovision Song Contest
◄1985 • 1986 • 1987►

Ireland was present at the Eurovision Song Contest 1986, held in Bergen, Norway.

Before Eurovision

National Song Contest 1986

The final was held on 30 March 1986 at the Radio Telefís Éireann Studios in Dublin, and was hosted by radio and television presenter Mike Murphy. Eleven regional juries across Ireland selected the winning song, "You Can Count on Me," performed by the group Luv Bug and composed by Kevin Sheerin.

Draw	Artist	Song	Points	Place
1	Fran Meen	"Here In The Night"	12	5
2	Luv Bug	"You Can Count On Me"	35	1
3	Theresa Lowe	"Only The Lonely Survive"	2	8
4	The Rockets	"Life in the City"	3	6
5	John Spillane and Mandy Murphy	"Ringo"	3	6
6	Honor Heffernan	"Honey"	19	3
7	Loudest Whisper	"Johnny, Where Are You Now?"	22	2
8	Linda Martin	"If I Can Change Your Mind"	14	4
9	Jim Walsh	"I'll Never Love Again"	0	9

Detailed Regional Jury Votes
Draw	Song	Dublin County	Dundalk	Manorhamilton	Gweedore	Clifden	Dingle	Cobh	Kilkenny	Rosslare	Mullingar	Dublin Central	Total
1	Here in the Night		1			2			1	6	1	1	12
2	You Can Count on Me			7	4	7	7	2		3	4	1	35
3	Only the Lonely Survive								1		1		2
4	Life in the City	1									1	1	3
5	Ringo		2				1						3
6	Honey	4		2	2	1	1		2			7	19
7	Johnny, Where Are You Now?	2		1	2		1	8	5		3		22
8	If I Can Change Your Mind	3	7		2				1	1			14
9	I'll Never Love Again												0

At Eurovision

Luv Bug performed twelfth on the night of the contest, following Israel and preceding Belgium. At the close of the voting the song had received 96 points, placing 4th in a field of 20 competing countries. This high placing was the third of five straight top ten finishes, and was the run-up to Ireland's win in Brussels the next year.

Points awarded to Ireland

Points awarded to Ireland
12 points	10 points	8 points	7 points	6 points
Austria Denmark Spain		Finland Iceland Portugal Yugoslavia	Sweden	Israel
5 points	4 points	3 points	2 points	1 point
Turkey		France Luxembourg	Belgium Norway

Points awarded by Ireland

12 points	Belgium
10 points	Switzerland
8 points	Germany
7 points	Luxembourg
6 points	Norway
5 points	Spain
4 points	Denmark
3 points	Yugoslavia
2 points	Austria
1 point	Cyprus

External links

• Irish National Final 1986