Eurovision 1993: Millstreet

No smaller place has ever hosted the contest. Millstreet, in County Cork, had a population of about 1,500.

It had something else, though: the Green Glens Arena, an indoor arena built for horse shows, and an owner who wanted the contest badly. Noel C. Duggan offered the building for nothing and promised more money from local businesses. People at the top of Irish television had been keen to take the show out of Dublin for once, and they said yes.

Getting it ready

It was the biggest outside broadcast RTÉ had ever attempted. The floor of the arena had to be dug out to make enough height for the stage and lights. Extra telephone lines were laid. The town’s railway line and station were extended.

The stage that went in was the largest yet built for the contest, a triangle of translucent material lit from underneath, with a mirror image of itself hanging above.

There was no room in Millstreet for the delegations. They stayed in Killarney and other towns round about. About 3,500 people watched in the arena, and Fionnuala Sweeney presented.

Too many countries

Europe had changed, and it was queueing at the door. Communist governments had fallen; the Soviet Union and Yugoslavia had broken up; the EBU had merged with its Eastern counterpart. Suddenly there were far more broadcasters entitled to enter than there were places.

The EBU raised the limit to 25 and kept three places for newcomers. As many as fourteen countries showed interest. Seven actually entered a qualifying contest, held in Ljubljana on 3 April.

The three that came through were all republics of the former Yugoslavia: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia and Slovenia. At the running-order draw in December, before anyone knew who they would be, they had been listed as Countries A, B and C.

Yugoslavia itself was not there. Its national broadcaster had been shut down and the country was under international sanctions because of the wars.

The qualifier was only ever a stopgap. From 1994, the countries that scored worst would be relegated for a year.

Malta’s telephone

The voting was by jury, country by country, in the order the songs had been sung. Malta should have voted eighth. Its telephone connection failed, and it was passed over.

Malta voted last instead.

The result

Ireland won again. Niamh Kavanagh sang “In Your Eyes” and finished on 187 points, more than anyone had scored before — a record that lasted exactly one year.

It was Ireland’s fifth victory, level with France and Luxembourg at the top of the list, and its second in a row.

The United Kingdom was second, for the second year running and the fourteenth time in all. Sonia finished 23 points behind. Switzerland was third.

Of the three newcomers, Croatia did best, in fifteenth. Bosnia and Herzegovina was sixteenth. Slovenia shared twenty-second.

The interval belonged to the pair who had brought the contest to Ireland: Linda Martin, who sang her winning song again, and Johnny Logan, its writer, who performed with choirs that included local children.