to represent Ireland at the contest. The competition format differed from the previous three years with a mentor system that involved five music professionals each selecting one entry for the competition, indicating the abandonment of the public entry submission process. In regards to the mentor system, Julian Vignoles, Irish Eurovision Head of Delegation, stated: "Given our mixed results in recent years, we felt it was our duty to look again at our selection procedure to see what method could improve Ireland's chances of winning on the Eurovision stage. Ireland has a vibrant and successful music industry and we want to find the best performer to represent our country. This year we have decided to suspend the open call for entries and instead harness the skills and experience of professionals in the Irish music business to source the talent and the song that has the potential to be a Eurovision winner. We are enlisting five people who each have proven success in different areas of the music industry so the public will have five strong entries to choose from in Eurosong 2011." Before Eurovision Eurosong 2011 Eurosong 2011 was the national final format developed by RTÉ in order to select Ireland's entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2011. The competition was broadcast on RTÉ One as well as online via the broadcaster's official website rte.ie and at the official Eurovision Song Contest website eurovision.tv during a special edition of The Late Late Show held on 11 February 2011 and hosted by Ryan Tubridy. Competing entries On 26 November 2010, RTÉ revealed the five mentors responsible for selecting the five finalists for the competition. The mentors were: Caroline Downey-Desmond – Director of MCD and event producer David Hayes – Musical director and arranger Liam Lawton – Composer and performer Ronan Hardiman – Composer Willie Kavanagh – Chairman of EMI Music Ireland The five finalists were announced on 28 January 2011 and the songs to be performed by the finalists were presented on 10 February 2011 during The Derek Mooney Show broadcast on RTÉ Radio 1. Final The national final was attended by former contest winners Niamh Kavanagh and Bucks Fizz, and former contestant Brian Kennedy. Guest performers included Niamh Kavanagh performing "In Your Eyes" and Bucks Fizz performing "Making Your Mind Up". Following the combination of votes from six regional juries and public televoting which had a weighting equal to the votes