Irish hopes are high in Birmingham as singer Dawn Martin rehearses for the Eurovision Song Contest.

Rehearsals for the 43rd Eurovision Song Contest (ESC) are taking place at the National Indoor Arena (NIA) in Birmingham, following the win for United Kingdom with Katrina and The Waves the previous year.

Representing Ireland is hairdresser Dawn Martin from Dundalk in County Louth. She is performing the song 'Is Always Over Now?', written and composed by Gerry Morgan. Dawn Martin is engaged in an unrelenting schedule of rehearsals and interviews but insists,

It’s brilliant.

Gerry Morgan admits the Irish Eurovision Song Contest entry was not specifically written with Dawn Martin or Eurovision in mind however,

It’s the proverbial dream come true.

Irish conductor Noel Kelehan feels the Irish entry should do well in the competition,

I think it’s pretty good, you know and there’s a lot of talk about it.

The Eurovision Song Contest is being produced by the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC). Executive producer Kevin Bishop feels that Ireland’s many Eurovision Song Contest wins has seen RTÉ hone the entire production to perfection. Therefore the BBC production is,

Very much based on their role model really.

Presenters of the 43rd ESC are Terry Wogan and Ulrika Jonsson. Terry Wogan is convinced that most European countries take the Eurovision Song Contest more seriously than the Irish and English,

They think it’s a song contest, you and I know that that’s the last thing that it is.

He believes the Great British public enjoy the opportunity to make fun of their European neighbours,

They do tend to be a little on the jingoistic side here; it was a terrible shock to them when they built the Channel Tunnel and found the French could come here, they thought it was only one way.

Terry Wogan enjoys the silliness of the event but when performers start to sing in English, his time commentating on the event will come to an end,

If I have nothing to jeer or laugh at I mean it just won’t be any fun to do any more.

The 43rd Eurovision Song Contest took place on 9 May 1998 with 25 competing countries. RTÉ broadcast the show live with Irish viewers selecting the winner by televoting. The ESC winner was the Israeli entrant Dana International, the contest's first openly LGBTQ+ winner. Dawn Martin came 9th in the competition.

An RTÉ News report broadcast on 8 April 1998. The reporter is Colm Connolly.