The head of Ireland's Eurovision delegation has said that Wild Youth are "devastated" not to have qualified for the Eurovision Song Contest final this Saturday after they failed to make it through last night's semi-final.
The Dublin band performed their song We Are One but were among the five acts eliminated at the M&S Bank Arena in Liverpool on Tuesday.
Speaking on The Ray D’Arcy Show on RTÉ Radio 1, Ireland's head of delegation Michael Kealy said, "Obviously people are devastated. What happened last night was that after the arena, we all got in the bus back to the hotel and sat around the bar and had a late night drink. A lot of family and friends of the band are over.
"It’s quite an emotional thing... a lot of time and effort and emotional capital is spent on our Eurovision effort every year, and it’s devastating when we don’t get through to the final."
Mr Kealy continued: "The guys were all geared up and focused on the show last night but they had one eye on getting to the final on Saturday night.
"When that doesn’t happen, it’s tough. It is tough on them. I feel for any artist who has to go through it. It’s a pressure cooker out here."
Asked if he thought Ireland's selection process needs to be separated from The Late Late Show, Mr Kealy said: "I’m as opportunistic as the next person when it comes to this. I would agree.
"I think The Late Late has served it well in a way - it’s been the only vehicle of a sufficient scale that we can do, to be honest. It’s very limited, but it’s the best thing we can do in that studio."
He added: "I’m not going to win any popularity contests for saying this, but RTÉ has been chronically underfunded I think, in my opinion, for decades, and it shows particularly when it comes to us putting on entertainment shows.
"When it comes to entertainment, you need scale to make it look as impressive as a show that you would see in other European countries, and the truth is our facilities in RTÉ are not sufficient to mount shows like that."
When pressed by D'Arcy if next year’s song selection will be separated from The Late Late Show, Mr Kealy said: "I honestly don’t know at the moment. That will be a conversation to have with the heads of the entertainment department in RTÉ and the incoming Late Late Show team."
When asked if Wild Youth or the delegation themselves now think a different approach to the staging or overall performance should have been taken, he said, "No. They had a very clear vision of what they wanted to do.
"Conor [Wild Youth's lead singer] had a very clear vision of what he wanted to do - he wanted that gold look, he wanted to wear the spangly gold outfit…"
Asked if he had input into the band's stage show and outfits, Mr Kealy said, "Of course, but my job is not to impose my artistic vision on them.
"My job is to help them realise their own artistic vision to their best of their ability, and our ability, and make it work from a Eurovision point of view.
"I’m not going to tell them I’ve had a great idea and this is what we’re going to do. That wouldn’t be true to the artist or authentic to them… They owned that stage last night if you asked me and I thought they all did an amazing job."
Responding to a caller to D'Arcy's show who commented that Ireland's Eurovision selection process is a "closed shop" and that the competition needs to be "opened up" next year, Mr Kealy said, "It’s not a closed shop. We advertised for people to send in songs last September or October.
"That’s open to anybody who wants to send in a song. They’re not just listened to by me - they’re listened to by a panel of 30 or 40 people. It’s not a closed shop by any means."
"I just want to reassure people that no-one is try to pull the wool over anyone’s eyes - it’s a completely transparent process".
When asked about his own role in the process and how he felt about it, he said, "I know how other people feel about it. I’ll say to you, Ray, I enjoy doing this and I’ll do it as long as RTÉ want me to do it... I know I’m not the most popular person on social media amongst some of the fans.
"I always think of it as - if I can torture an analogy here - a bit like a run-down train running on a poorly maintained track, and it’s always late.
"Is getting rid of the driver going to fix it? Or do you invest in the infrastructure to improve the actual train itself? So that would be my view of it."
The Eurovision Song Contest continues on Thursday night with the second semi-final, which can be watched on RTÉ Two and RTÉ Player from 8pm.
