It’s been revealed that RTE spent €337,000 on Nicky Byrne’s 2016 Eurovision act. The National Broadcaster sent a team of 18 people with the former Westlife star to Sweden where the song contest took place.
Nicky performed and co-wrote an original track, Sunlight, but it failed to impress at an international level, and the Dubliner placed 15th out of 18 countries.
Although the figures seem extraordinarily high for the 2016 entry, RTE released a statement saying that they actually saved money last year by not going through the Late Late Show, as was standard procedure in the past.
“The fee for active participation includes RTE’s contribution to the substantial costs incurred by the host broadcaster in staging the contest and the fee for entry.
“While overall Eurovision costs for 2016 may appear to be higher this year, it’s important to note the costs involved are being accounted for differently than in previous years.
“RTE did not hold a Eurosong selection process on the Late Late Show in 2016 as we had done in previous years.
“The separate budget set aside for the Eurosong selection was instead used towards the overall staging and appearance of Nicky Byrne’s performance in Stockholm.
“Nicky Byrne waived his performance fee in order to channel all available budgets into the stage production,” the statement read.