UK national selection for the Eurovision Song Contest had hit with "Walking On Sunshine", to enter a new track, "Love Shine A Light". This produced a win in the Eurovision Contest itself for the United Kingdom and for Katrina and the Waves in 1997, and followed with a second place for Imaani in 1998, but disappointment in 1999 for the all-girl band Precious. In 2000, the same format continued, but the final four songs were performed live in "A Song For Europe", still shunted to a graveyard Sunday afternoon slot. The result proved disappointing. Nicki French gave what author John Kennedy O'Connor describes in his book The Eurovision
Ireland in the Eurovision Song Contest 2007 Ireland in the Eurovision Song Contest 2007 Ireland participated at the Eurovision Song Contest 2007 after Radio Telefís Éireann (RTÉ), the Irish broadcaster, internally selected the Irish traditional group Dervish to represent them at the 2007 contest, held in Helsinki, Finland. Although RTÉ internally selected the artist to represent Ireland at the contest, the song that Dervish sung was selected by the Irish public during "The Late Late Show" on 16 February 2007. The song selected was "They Can't Stop the Spring", which was composed by John Waters and Tommy Moran. Having automatically qualified to the final after coming in