Jedward 'Win The Hearts Of Europe'

RTÉ have issued a statement of congratulations to Jedward on their high energy performance at Saturday night's Eurovision Song Contest, from Dusseldorf.

Glen Killane, RTÉ MDTV, said: "Jedward have done us proud. They have buoyed up the nation with their magical and energetic performance in Dusseldorf. Finishing in 8th place was a huge achievement. Our thanks and congratulations to John and Edward. They have been wonderfully positive and charismatic ambassadors for us all. "

Julian Vignoles, RTÉ, Head of the Irish Delegation, paid tribute to Jedward's performance and professionalism. He said: "Jedward have won the hearts of Europe. We are delighted with their performance and with the commitment, energy, enthusiasm and professionalism they have shown throughout this whole process. I'm very happy that our mentoring system worked and delivered 8th place in the contest. Our huge thanks to mentor Caroline Downey who has worked closely with us and committed energy, skill and drive to get this strong result. Many thanks also to their tour manager Liam McKenna and of course to Louis. The Eurovision team we had with us did Trojan work; thanks to them too."

Jedward themselves were very happy with their experience of the Eurovision Song Contest. They commented: "We are so happy that we got to the Eurovision. We wanted to bring fun and happiness to Dusseldorf and we wanted to cheer everyone up at home. Hopefully we succeeded. Thank you so much to our mentor Caroline Downey and to RTÉ for all their support."

25 countries competed in the final. Azherbaijan won the the contest with Ell and Nikki receiving the highest number of points - 221 in total - from televoters and juries from the 43 countries participating in this year's Eurovision. Raphael Gualazzi from Italy was second with 189 points and Sweden's Eric Saade came in third with 185 points.

(BMcN)