OGAE Ireland Homepage

About OGAE

OGAE Ireland History

OGAE Ireland is the Irish national club, and with over 500 individual members, we are one of the fastest-growing national clubs within the OGAE network. Proportionally we are the largest club in Europe.

OGAE Ireland was born out of an idea in the early 1990s. That idea was to create a group where like-minded people could share their love and enthusiasm for the Eurovision Song Contest.

The club was set up by Eurovision fan Johnnie Walsh and, in the beginning, had just a handful of members.
Charles Meagher took over in 1997
In 2004, Charles stepped down, and Diarmuid Furlong was elected the new President.
When Diarmuid took over the presidency, the Fan Club had 19 members, and by 2022 it had 250 members.
In April 2022, an election was held amongst members to select a new president, which in turn saw Frank Dermody elected as the new incoming president for OGAE Ireland.

OGAE Ireland Today

Each year, our annual meetups allow members to get together and meet special guests linked to the contest, all followed by the obligatory Eurovision disco.

When Diarmuid took over the presidency in 2004, the Fan Club had 19 members, since then its membership has swelled to 118 members, much of which is probably due to various successfully organized Eurovision themed events, increasing the visibility of OGAE within Ireland.

OGAE Ireland | RTE | Eurosong

OGAE Ireland has a very strong working relationship with RTÉ, our national television station, and the previous president, Diarmuid, has been on the judging panel for the past number of years to pick the Irish entries for EuroSong, our National final.

We of course, go to the festival every May as it is the highlight of the year! We try to get as many members to go, it really is the best time when we can all get together for the thing we love the most!

How to Join OGAE Ireland

It’s as simple as going to OGAE.ie/join

We offer “sole” memberships for one individual and “joint” memberships for two people living at the same address. Membership rights are identical for both categories, except that joint members only receive one copy of any publication we make. Residents on the Island of Ireland should select the appropriate Irish membership, and residents of all other countries should select the appropriate overseas membership.

There are various benefits to membership that are only growing as we grow as a group.