Five songs faced the votes of five regional juries and a public televote, ultimately resulting in the selection of "Only Love Survives" performed by Ryan Dolan as the Irish Eurovision entry.

Performing during the show in position 13, "Only Love Survives" was announced among the top 10 entries of the first semi-final and therefore qualified to compete in the final on 18 May.

In the final, Ireland performed as the closing entry during the show in position 26 and placed twenty-sixth (last) out of the 26 participating countries, scoring 5 points.

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] From 2008 to 2012, 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.

[2] Eurosong 2013 was the national final format developed by RTÉ in order to select Ireland's entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2013.

[3] On 6 November 2012, RTÉ revealed the five music industry professionals that were invited to each select and mentor an entry for the competition: presenter Mairead Farrell, radio DJ and producer Mark McCabe, songwriter Niall Mooney, writer and performer Shay Healy, and producer Stuart O'Connor.

[5][6] The national final took place on 22 February 2013 and featured a guest performance from former contest winner Lordi as well as commentary from a panel that consisted of commentator Marty Whelan, producer Bill Hughes and presenter Evelyn O'Rourke.

[8] Following the 50/50 combination of votes from five regional juries and public televoting, "Only Love Survives" performed by Ryan Dolan was selected as the winner.

[9][10] Ryan Dolan made several appearances across Europe to specifically promote "Only Love Survives" as the Irish Eurovision entry.

On 13 April, Ryan Dolan performed during the Eurovision in Concert event which was held at the Melkweg venue in Amsterdam, Netherlands and hosted by Marlayne and Linda Wagenmakers.

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.