The contestants in the Irish National Final were decided by two semi-finals, where three were chosen from the first which was held on 6 February with the second being held on 20 February. The Final was held on 3 March 1968 and was broadcast on RTÉ TV in Dublin, Ireland. All three shows were hosted by Brendan O'Reilly.
Ireland was represented by Pat McGeegan, with the song "Chance of a Lifetime", at the 1968 Eurovision Song Contest, which took place on 6 April in London. The song was chosen in the fourth National Song Contest held on 3 March 1968.
Before Eurovision
National Song Contest
The fourth National Song Contest consisted of two semi-finals and a final, which were held in the RTÉ Studios in Dublin, Ireland and hosted by Brendan O'Reilly.[1] This was the first time that an Irish national final had a semi-final and remained the only time until 1996.
Competing Entries
RTÉ opened a submission period for composers to submit songs between 27 October 1967 and 1 January 1968. Composers had be Irish-born or live in Ireland and could only submit a maximum of two songs each. RTÉ selected 16 songs from the received submissions.[2]
Almost all of the running order and exact results for the semi-finals are unknown. Although three songs were intended to qualify from each semi-final, a mistake where song 'M' ("Gleann Na Smól") was accidentally announced as having qualified instead of song 'N' ("Chance of a Lifetime"), meant that both songs qualified from the second semi-final.[3]
The final was held on 3 March 1968 in the RTÉ Studios in Dublin, Ireland and hosted by Brendan O'Reilly. The results were decided by 10 regional juries.[1]
Ireland
