VENUE The Point, Dublin		ENTRIES 25
HOSTS Cynthia Ni Mhurchu Gerry Ryan		DEBUTS Estonia, Romania, Slovakia, Lithuania, Hungary, Russia, Poland

After the limited opportunity for the new nations the year before, 1994 saw a complete change of policy.  Any newcomer who applied before the deadline (there were seven) were guaranteed a place and the seven lowest scorers in the 1993 contest were relegated to make way.  Luckily for the EBU Germany were one place above the drop zone so no Big Four privileges were needed this time.       

It's ironic from a twenty first century perspective that the countries that did least well of these newcomers were the Baltic ones, Estonia sending what sounded like a 1970s Finnish entry stuck in a time capsule and Lithuania a guy who looked like a refugee from a leather bar, both occupying the last two places. On the other hand, Poland and Hungary finished in the top four but have not come close since. The applause for the Bosnian entry was so loud that one of the singers missed his cue.

The presentation by RTE was a mixture of the sublime and the ridiculous: the former including a fabulous "city skyline" backdrop, perhaps the most stunning ever,  and of course the legendary "Riverdance" interval act that became a global cultural phenomenon; the latter epitomized by the truly awful Gerry Ryan who seemed hell-bent on out Toto-ing Toto Cotugno from 1991. His command of the French language was bizarre to say the least.  With a downbeat entry from a poor draw, Ireland still became the only country in contest history to win three years in a row.

WINNER: Ireland

ROCK'N' ROLL KIDS by Paul Harrington & Charlie McGettigan

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