News - Ireland: Dustin's Eurovision song no turkey, says Geldof | Eurovision Song Contest News - 2008 Belgrade, Serbia 

His participation in tonight's Irish national final may have already ruffled a few feathers, but Dustin the Turkey yesterday received the heavyweight backing of Bob Geldof in his bid for Eurovision glory, writes John Downes of the Irish Times newspaper.

The musician and co-founder of Live Aid said it would be nothing short of "rank poultryism" should "one of the greatest talents this country has ever produced" fail to be selected to represent "our glorious musical heritage" on the world stage.

The puppet character Dustin, with his song 'Irelande Douze Pointe', is one of six acts competing in tonight's Eurosong 2008 final in Limerick for the right to represent Ireland at the Eurovision semi-final in Serbia in May 2008.

"The mere fact of his being a turkey should give Ireland the edge," suggested Geldof.

He said it should not be claimed that "simply because this giant is a turkey he is somehow unfit to represent his country".

If the Eurovision Song Contest was known for anything at all, he added, "it is the vast number of turkeys it produces each year . . . Sure won't he gobble them up!"

Geldof has previously released a duet with his feathered friend, while the Planet 24 production company he founded produced the UK Channel 4 show 'The Big Breakfast' featuring Dustin's stablemates 'Zig and Zag.'

The decision to select Dustin for tonight's final, which will be shown live on RTÉ 1 television and live streaming on www.rte.ie/live aswell as www.eurovision.tv from 20:00 CET (19:00 local time), was not without controversy, with some claiming that it makes a "mockery" of Eurovision.

However, the chairman of the judging panel, television producer Bill Hughes, has said it did not choose Dustin's song in a flippant manner.

"We did think seriously about it but once we heard it and we all laughed so much we decided it was worth including," he said.

The songs, in order of performance, are Double Cross My Heart, performed by Donal Skehan; Irelande Douze Pointe, performed by Dustin; Time to Rise, performed by Maya; Not Crazy After All, performed by Leona Daly; Sometimes, performed by Liam Geddes; and Chances, performed by Marc Roberts.

One of the other finalists, Leona Daly, said last night the involvement of Dustin had served to raise the profile of all finalists, and expressed confidence that voters were looking for a "strong singer and a strong songwriter".

Asked to comment on Bob Geldof's support, Dustin said he was glad to have the support of someone who, "like meself does a little bit of charity work in his spare time".

He added: "I really am chuffed. We couldn't get Christy Moore."

Currently, Dustin leads the betting to win the Irish National Final on 2/9 on favourite, followed by Donal Skehan on 5/1.

Who wins??? Ireland will decide tonight, follow the show live with esctoday.com tonight at 20:00 CET with an online live report also.