Voting irregularities uncovered during second Eurovision semi-final

Irregular voting patterns have been identified in the results of six countries involved in the second Eurovision semi-final stage, according to a statement from the European Broadcasting Union.

Ireland's entry That's Rich, sung by Brooke Scullion, failed to make it through that semi-final in Turin last Thursday.

The statement said the irregular voting patterns followed “analysis of jury voting by the European Broadcasting Union’s (EBU’s) pan-European voting partner after the second dress rehearsal of the second semi-final.”

It said “the EBU takes any suspected attempts to manipulate the voting at the Eurovision Song Contest extremely seriously and has the right to remove such votes in accordance with the Official Voting Instructions, irrespective of whether or not such votes are likely to influence the results and/or outcome of the voting”.

Maureen Dowd: There is just too much church in the state

---

Nato accession: Turkey in talks with Finns and Swedes over ‘outrageous’ PKK stance

---

Sri Lanka to appoint successor after former PM whisked to naval base for safety

---

Why many national governments oppose reform of the EU

---

‘Aggregated result’

The six countries concerned were Azerbaijan, Georgia, Montenegro, Poland, Romania and San Marino. An "aggregated result" for each country was calculated and used instead. The aggregated result was calculated based on the results of other countries with "similar voting records", the EBU said.

Ireland, with 47 points, came 15th out of 18 contesting countries in Thursday's second semi-final.

A former Voice UK contestant from Bellaghy in Derry, Brooke Scullion performed halfway through the two-hour event at Palasport Olimpico on Thursday evening.

Afterwards she tweeted ‘Beyond proud of this experience, thank you to my wonderful team. I will never forget @eurovision. Onto the next.” On Friday she tweeted a video of celebrating Irish revellers singing “olé, olé, olé”. She commented: “Walked past an Irish bar in Turin and this happened. Thank you for all the support, I’ve felt all the love.” A second video she tweeted featured her performing That’s Rich for her fans in the bar.