The runner-up in RTÉ's You're A Star, Simon Casey, may still be in with a chance to represent Ireland at the Eurovision Song Contest in Latvia following concern that the chosen entry, sung by rival Mickey Joe Harte, may have to be withdrawn.
The European Broadcasting Union (EBU) has ordered that RTÉ submit two songs to the Eurovision entry committee in Riga next Thursday, amid suggestions that the Irish winning song, We've got the World, is similar to a previous winner of the Eurovision Song Contest.
On RTÉ's Liveline programme yesterday, the scrutineer for the Eurovision Song Contest, Ms Sarah Yuen, said the EBU had received "a flurry of e-mails and telephone calls" alleging the Irish entry was "very, very, very similar to another song", the Danish Eurovision-winning song in 2002, Fly On The Wings of Love.
All Eurovision entrants are required to submit their songs to the competition on March 20th. However, Ms Yuen said RTÉ must bring two songs, its chosen entry and a back-up song. She has also asked RTÉ to bring a copy of the Danish song for comparison. The Irish song would be "top of the agenda" at next week's meeting, she added.
In reference to an article in yesterday's Irish Times, RTÉ has said that the issue of whether We've Got The World would be replaced by A Better Plan, sung by Simon Casey and written by Bryan McFadden, was "hypothetical" as the chosen song "doesn't come a quarter close to plagiarism". RTÉ could not confirm whether the Casey/McFadden song would also be submitted to the EBU.
In 1995 Ireland's entry, Dreamin', sung by Eddie Friel, was almost pulled from the competition because of alleged similarity to a Julie Felix song.
