Bottom of Eurovision pile but we can’t blame Merkel

The Germans are blaming Angela Merkel for their disappointing Eurovision result — but here in Ireland, we don’t really know what went wrong.

Even Paddy Power was baffled by the results of Saturday night’s Eurovision when Ireland, represented by Ryan Dolan singing Only Love Survives, came rock bottom. Even our normally loyal neighbours, the Brits, couldn’t see fit to give us more than one measly point.

Paddy Power is refunding all win and each way singles to customers who backed the Co Tyrone singer, a move that will cost it about €15,000.

Head of the Irish delegation at the Eurovision, Michael Kealy, said they were stunned at the result in Malmo.

“Nobody saw that result coming. He put on a great performance of a great song” he said.

A Paddy Power spokesperson said: “Ryan genuinely didn’t deserve to finish last. He was well backed from the off but punters never got a run for their money and the only fair thing to do is to refund them their money.”

Ryan and the rest of the Irish team flew back to Dublin airport on Saturday night.

Meanwhile, the Germans lamented their unexpectedly poor showing, blaming Chancellor Angela Merkel’s tough stance in the eurozone crisis for their failure to receive any points from 34 of the 39 countries voting.

Denmark’s Emmelie de Forest won the event, watched by around 125m people across Europe.