Irish Eurovision legend Niamh Kavanagh has been announced as the spokesperson for the Irish Eurovision jury and will deliver the Irish votes during the grand final tonight.
Kavanagh will give the results to an expected audience of around 180 million viewers from all over the globe.
The In Your Eyes singer, who won the contest 30 years ago this month, told RTÉ Entertainment that she is "very excited" about delivering the results, and isn’t feeling too nervous about the task at hand.
"It’s just 30 seconds of live TV and I get to rehearse it three times!" she joked. "I’m excited to see how the fans might react to when I pop up though. I love taking part in anything Eurovision… it’s a part of your life that’s just so fun - it’s like another family".
Her historic win came in the middle of three consecutive Eurovision victories for Ireland, starting with Linda Martin singing Johnny Logan's Why Me? in 1992 and culminating in Paul Harrington and Charlie McGettigan's Rock 'n' Roll Kids in 1994.
Who does she think will win the contest this year? "It’s not as definite as people think. It could go any way tomorrow night".
When asked about her own personal favourite song from this year’s entrants, she said, "It’s hard to look past what Loreen [the Swedish entry] is doing, though Finland is huge fun, and sometimes we need a bit of fun".
On the potential of the bookies’ favourite Sweden winning tomorrow night and equaling Ireland’s contest record of winning seven times, she says, "I don’t care if Sweden equal our record. I don’t think it takes away from what we’ve done."
"We have achieved something that probably won’t be done again, winning three times in a row."
When asked who her dream Irish act to represent Ireland in the contest would be, she answered: "So many of them – how amazing would it be to see someone like Dermot Kennedy up there singing his heart out, or Gavin James… or Imelda May… she could wreck the house!
"But they’re all easy names to say… there might be just that person that we haven’t found yet, who has that energy. This year we had some amazing singer-songwriters taking part."
"I think the public need to stop worrying about whether we’re going to win it - stop trying to chase it."
Kavanagh also represented Ireland in the contest for a second time, in 2010, with another power ballad, It’s For You, and qualified for the final.
When asked if she would delight Eurovision fans and consider taking part in the competition for a third time, she said: "Never say never - but I don’t think it’s the answer. There is lots of fantastic young talent coming through. The 'former glories’ are not where we need to be… as magnificent as we are!" she joked.
"The country needs to celebrate all that young fabulous talent that we have".
When asked what she planned to wear tomorrow in front of nearly 200 million viewers, she teased a "sequined number".
Graham Norton, Hannah Waddingham, Alesha Dixon and Ukrainian singer Julia Sanina will present the grand final live from Liverpool, with Marty Whelan providing commentary on RTÉ.
The show kicks off on RTÉ One and RTÉ Player at 8pm.
Reporting: Audrey Donohue
