Eurovision winner Niamh Kavanagh is returning to the continent-wide song contest – but this time to guide young Irish singers and songwriters in the underage version.
Back in 1993 when the Eurovision Song Contest was held in Millstreet, she sang In Your Eyes to clinch a second consecutive win for Ireland, with another two wins following in 1994 and '96. Such heady days are long gone.
This time around Kavanagh will be judging the contenders on TG4's Junior Eurovision, as Ireland takes part in this song contest, which is open to 10 - 15-year-olds, for the first time.
Junior Eurovision is one of the highlights of the TG4 Autumn schedule, and Kavanagh attended the channel's Autumn Launch today at Dublin's Smock Alley Theatre.
"What I really like about this, what makes it interesting, is that the entrants have to be between the ages of 10 and 15, and they have to write their own song, or co-write it, and perform it," she explains. "And it's as gaeilge, which is very exciting."
With so many entrants involved in the Irish end of the Junior Eurovision, the national end of the contest will be run over a series of weeks on TG4, on Sunday nights.
"It's like a proper show in that there are eight singers in each show, and they've all written their own songs, which is pretty fantastic," says Kavanagh. "And the winner goes to Bulgaria, where the final will be held in November.
"The level of song-writing is apparently very high. It's very exciting because you're getting young people involved in song-writing and performing at a very early age. It's giving a platform, as gaeilge, for young talent."
As for her own career, Kavanagh grins broadly and states: "I'm doing great. I'm doing different things at different times. This year I took the summer off. I took the summer off to go up to Donegal with my kids. Then I'm doing Junior Eurovision, and then I'll be doing Menopause the Musical.
"It's myself, Mary Byrne, Linda Nolan and Sue Collins. It's going to be really exciting and we'll be doing that all over the autumn, in places like The Grand Canal in Dublin, the Town Hall in Galway – there are lots of lovely theatres around Ireland. It's great craic and it's definitely a girls' night out.
"To be fair, it is a new departure for me as I'm used to doing my own thing and performing on my own. So it's good to have a bit of discipline and do some new things. I'm really excited about it. I've always wanted to do a musical."
Other TG4 Autumn highlights include:
An Klondike - a major new original 4 part drama series set in the harsh world of the gold mines of Alaska over a century ago. Three Connemara-born brothers venture from the silver mines of Montana to the Alaskan Gold Rush of 1895.
Cogar - documentaries that concentrate on people more than on issues: remembering a German U Boat commander’s humanitarian landing in West Kerry; young film actors Judi Dench and Jeremy Irons bringing scandal to south Kilkenny in the 1970s, and lots more.
Ros na Rún - Irish television’s most authentic soap reaches its 20th season. It opens with an answer to a burning question: does the scheming publican Tadhg escape from a fiery end?
