Westlife walked away with the Best Irish Pop Act for the eighth year in a row at last night's Meteor Irish Music Awards in Dublin.
A total of 19 gongs were presented and host Dara O'Briain introduced performances from Westlife, Boyzone, Shayne Ward, Cathy Davey, The Coronas and a duet from Sinead O'Connor and Republic of Loose.
Westlife with their award at the Meteor Ireland Music Awards in Dublin's RDS
The Meteor Industry Award was presented to the family of the late Jim Aiken, one of Ireland's most successful music promoters. Mr Aiken, who died last year, brought international acts to Ireland such as Bruce Springsteen, Garth Brooks, Bob Dylan, Shania Twain, The Eagles, Elton John, Rod Stewart and Justin Timberlake.
Snow Patrol frontman Gary Lightbody dueted with Lisa Hannigan on the Some Surprisetrack taken from the Oxfam Ireland charity album, Cake Sale CD.
After a daily campaign for votes Today FM DJ Ray Foley received the award for Best National DJ beating his colleague Ray Darcy who has won the award for three consecutive years. Cathy Davey was voted Best Irish Female by the Irish public and Duke Special was named Best Irish Male. Damien Dempsey was presented with the award for Best Folk/Traditional.
For the eighth consecutive year Westlife walked away with the Best Irish Pop Act accolade.
Singer Paddy Casey's Addicted to Companywon Best Irish Album, with Aslan crowned Best Irish Band. Ham Sandwich were presented with the Hope for 2008 Meteor Award by 2FM DJ Rick O'Shea. The award was voted for by RTE 2FM listeners.
Folk veterans the Saw Doctors were presented with the Lifetime Achievement Award coupled with an outstanding performance at the awards. The group are this year celebrating over 20 years in the music business, having achieved international acclaim across the globe.
The Blizzards won Best Irish Live Performance for their gig at Oxegen last year with Muse picking up the award for Best International Live Performance (Oxegen 2007). The Most Downloaded Song went to Mundy and Sharon Shannon for Galway Girl.
This year the Humanitarian Award was presented to Rose Donohoe, founder and chairperson of the Rose Foundation, along with a cheque for €100,000 for the charity.
The Saw Doctors hold the record for the country's biggest-selling single of all time, I Used to Love Her, which topped the Irish charts for nine weeks in 1990. Previous winners of the gong include Christy Moore, Paul Brady, Bob Geldof, The Dubliners, The Pogues and last year's recipients, Clannad.
PA