Allegation of plagiarism in song contest

The governing body of the Eurovision Song Contest has confirmed it is investigating allegations of plagiarism made against the composers of Ireland's Eurovision entry, We've Got The World.

A spokeswoman for the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), which co-ordinates the song contest for the member states, told The Irish Times yesterday that it had received a number of complaints that the Irish song was a rip-off of the 2000 winning Danish entry, Fly On The Wings of Love.

"We have received complaints in regard to plagiarism involving the Irish entry. They are being taken note of and the matter will be scrutinised by a special committee for the contest," she said.

The bulk of the complaints to the EBU about the song written by Keith Molloy for You're A Star winner, Mickey Joe Harte, were received by e-mail, she said, but declined to reveal their source.

The committee had already begun its deliberations, she confirmed but she could not say when it will make a decision. "They will investigate the matter thoroughly," she said.

Until the EBU makes its ruling the fate of Ireland's entry hangs in the balance.

A spokeswoman for You're A Star, the RTÉ competition to find the Eurovision entry, said last night she was confident the EBU would find no fault against the song. "It doesn't come a quarter close to plagiarism. Once the EBU hear the song they'll realise that."

She said there was "no question" that the song would be scrapped and replaced with A Better Plan sung by the runner-up in the competition Simon Casey and written by Bryan McFadden of Westlife.

Speaking on RTÉ's Liveline programme yesterday Keith Molloy said he was "surprised by the whole hullabaloo" surrounding his song.

He said there were inherent similarities in any Eurovision song and the only connection he could make between his song and the Danish song was both were three minutes long and were written in the same key.

The singer/songwriter of Fly On The Wings of Love, Jorgen Olsen, said while there were definite similarities between his song and the Irish entry, he did not think he had a case for plagiarism.

"The tempo and the arrangement and the build up is sort of the same way we did it, but there's no way I'll do any legal action to that." He said it was up to the EBU to decide if his rights had been violated but, he added that he did not believe this was the case.