The Irish parliament rejected a petition submitted by The People Of Ireland (And Interested Britons Too) to make “My Lovely Horse” from the UK’s TV show, Father Ted, Ireland’s official entry for next year’s contest. The Irish Parliament actually considered the petition, albeit very briefly, before declaring that it couldn’t force Ireland’s broadcaster, RTE, to submit My Lovely Horse and that the MPs didn’t have the musical expertise to make the decision about the Irish entry.
The song, My Lovely Horse, was part of a Father Ted episode called “A Song for Europe.” In the episode, the song is selected because it is so bad that it guarantees Ireland won’t win Eurovision that year and therefore will not have to host the contest again. Ireland won Eurovision in 1992, 1993, 1994, and 1996. Although the Irish Parliament cannot tell RTE which song to submit, Ireland actually cannot submit My Lovely Horse next year because of Eurovision rules stating that songs cannot be commercially released prior to the September before the competition. The episode originally aired in 1996 and My Lovely Horse was released on CD in 1999, making it ineligible.
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