Eurovision: 'I hosted the show minutes after a bomb scare'

Thirty years agone Ireland was astir to triumph the Eurovision Song Contest for the 2nd twelvemonth successful a enactment erstwhile the cameras rolled into the tiny County Cork municipality of Millstreet.

But the 1993 contention astir did not spell up astatine each due to the fact that of a "bomb scare" conscionable minutes earlier it was to begin.

A caller programme reveals that Fionnuala Sweeney - the Belfast-born presenter of that year's contention - lone recovered astir the what had happened aft the amusement had ended.

Sweeney, who fronted the 1993 amusement by herself, tells the programme that the information alert was raised astir an hr earlier she was owed to spell unrecorded to millions of radical crossed Europe.

"It was thing I was gladsome I recovered retired astir afterwards due to the fact that I deliberation I would person been a batch much tense than I was," she says.

"Obviously the close determination was made - that it was a scare and it wasn't thing different than a scare.

"There would person been nary breathtaking moments successful the voting; determination would person been nary Ireland winning - it would person been specified a existent shame.

"People hide that Northern Ireland wasn't astatine bid and weaponry scares were not antithetic connected juncture successful the Republic.

"Gardaí (Irish police) had to marque a determination astir whether they were going to propulsion the full show."

But the amusement did spell connected and Niamh Kavanagh, who present lives successful Carrickfergus successful County Antrim, took location the trophy erstwhile her winning opus In Your Eyes bushed the UK's Sonia into 2nd spot by 23 points.

Coincidentally, owed to the convulsive struggle cognize arsenic the Troubles and the heightened information hazard successful Northern Ireland astatine the time, it was decided that the Irish and UK entries had to enactment successful abstracted locations.

The BBC is not liable for the contented of outer sites.

"I person met Sonia erstwhile successful my full life, which is bizarre arsenic we're truthful interlinked," says Kavanagh.

"We met erstwhile during the week of Eurovision due to the fact that we weren't allowed to enactment successful the aforesaid hotel.

"It was pre-Good Friday Agreement and the UK and Ireland, for information purposes, had to enactment successful abstracted hotels."

The programme besides hears from Belfast's Linda Martin who represented Ireland doubly - archetypal successful 1984 erstwhile she came 2nd with her opus Terminal 3, earlier winning with Why Me successful Sweden successful 1992.

She was a beardown advocator for the 2023 contention to beryllium held successful Belfast earlier Liverpool was selected arsenic the big metropolis connected behalf of Ukraine.

"I was campaigning that Eurovision would travel to Belfast due to the fact that I genuinely felt that everything was here," says Martin.

"I thought it was a God-given happening arsenic I knew the radical would unfastened their arms wide and invited the nationalities.

"It conscionable didn't hap and I can't fig retired why."

Ukraine's Timur Miroshnychenko famously commentated from a weaponry structure past twelvemonth due to the fact that of the warfare against Russia successful his country.

He tells the programme that helium looks guardant to the time erstwhile Ukraine wins the contention again and is capable to invited Eurovision fans from astir the world.

Timur says: "It was a imagination for america adjacent to vie and enactment successful Eurovision and person the accidental to broadcast adjacent from a weaponry shelter.

"It was similar a enactment of caller aerial for each of america and we saw the tremendous enactment from each the countries and it was priceless."