Five songs faced the votes of five regional juries and a public televote, ultimately resulting in the selection of "Heartbeat" performed by Can-linn featuring Kasey Smith as the Irish Eurovision entry.

Ireland holds the record for being the only country to win the contest three times in a row (in 1992, 1993 and 1994), as well as having the only three-time winner (Johnny Logan, who won in 1980 as a singer, 1987 as a singer-songwriter, and again in 1992 as a songwriter).

In 2011 and 2012, Jedward represented the nation for two consecutive years, managing to qualify to the final both times and achieve Ireland's highest position in the contest since 2000, placing eighth in 2011 with the song "Lipstick".

[1][2] From 2008 to 2013, RTÉ had set up the national final Eurosong to choose both the song and performer to compete at Eurovision for Ireland, with both the public and regional jury groups involved in the selection.

[3] Eurosong 2014 was the national final format developed by RTÉ in order to select Ireland's entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2014.

[5] On 31 October 2013, RTÉ revealed the five music industry professionals that were invited to each select and mentor an entry for the competition: guitarist for Irish rock-band Aslan Billy McGuinness, RTÉ 2fm presenter and lead singer of Kerbdog Cormac Battle, singer-songwriter Hazel Kaneswaran, tour manager Mark Murphy and band manager Valerie Roe.

[8] The national final took place on 28 February 2014 and featured guest performances from former contest winners Johnny Logan, Paul Harrington and Charlie McGettigan as well as commentary from a panel that consisted of music manager Louis Walsh, presenter Eoghan McDermott, producer Maia Dunphy, and singer and former contest winner Linda Martin.

Following the 50/50 combination of votes from five regional juries and public televoting, "Heartbeat" performed by Can-linn featuring Kasey Smith was selected as the winner.

The jury consisted of five music industry professionals who were citizens of the country they represent, with their names published before the contest to ensure transparency.

This jury was asked to judge each contestant based on: vocal capacity; the stage performance; the song's composition and originality; and the overall impression by the act.