As Ireland faces relegation from the Eurovision Song Contest for the first time, a senior RTE figure has responded to criticism of the station’s handling of the event.

Talking last week to British industry magazine Music Week, Ireland’s pop guru Louis Walsh slammed the national broadcaster, saying: “I blame RTE who don’t appear to have any interest in it any more.”

Walsh, who has been responsible for three Eurovision winners since 1980, refused to place any blame on the singer of Ireland’s 2001 entry, Dubliner Gary O’Shaughnessy.

“They [RTE] allow people to enter who have had no previous television exposure,” he said. “Ireland’s poor showing was not Mr O’Shaughnessy’s fault, but there is no place for amateurs at this level.”

Brendan Graham, composer of two Eurovision winners, agrees that RTE undermined the prestige of the event that launched Riverdance. Speaking to hotpress, he stated: “One couldn’t but arrive at that conclusion watching the Eurosong final. If they are serious about it the thing needs to be lifted by the scruff of the neck.

“I think the whole thing itself is getting hairy legged, but it will probably trundle on,” he added.

However, Kevin Linehan, Commissioning Editor for Music Programmes at RTE, defended how the station handled the selection process.

“We put as much effort into this year’s show as we have put into any of the shows over the last number of years. The amount of resources and money we spend on trying to pick the right song and trying to pick a winner has not changed one iota,” he told hotpress.

“If Louis [Walsh] is saying that we are not putting as much effort into selecting a good song to win the Eurovision, that’s simply not true. We have had the good years and this was a bad year, you have to be philosophical about these things… but we’ll be back. We do review each year how we go about the selection process and how we pick the song, and the show itself. We will be doing that this year even more determinedly to do better when we get back into the contest in two years’ time.”

Responding to criticisms of this year’s entry, Mr Linehan pointed out that most of it came from people in the music business, not from the general public who he said, were very supportive of Gary O’Shaughnessy.

“Whoever would have picked Estonia?” he added. “I am amazed that Louis Walsh and Brendan Graham were not saying, ‘How could a song like Estonia’s win the Eurovision Song Contest’.”

Linehan confirmed that RTE does plan to broadcast the contest next year, even though Ireland will not be taking part.