| Year: | 1986 |
| Broadcaster: | Irish: [[RTÉ|Radio Telefís Éireann]]|i=no (RTÉ) |
| Country: | Ireland |
| Preselection: | National Song Contest 1986 |
| Preselection Date: | 30 March 1986 |
| Entrant: | Luv Bug |
| Song: | You Can Count on Me |
| Final Result: | 4th, 96 points |
Ireland was represented at the Eurovision Song Contest 1986 with the song "You Can Count on Me", written by Kevin Sheerin, and performed by the group Luv Bug. The Irish participating broadcaster, Irish: [[RTÉ|Radio Telefís Éireann]]|i=no (RTÉ), selected its entry through a national final.
Irish: [[RTÉ|Radio Telefís Éireann]]|i=no (RTÉ) held the national final on 30 March 1986 at its studios in Dublin, hosted by Mike Murphy. Eleven regional juries across Ireland selected the winning song, "You Can Count on Me", performed by the group Luv Bug and composed by Kevin Sheerin.
| Draw | Artist | Song | Points | Place | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Fran Meen | "Here in the Night" | 12 | 5 | |
| 2 | Luv Bug | "You Can Count on Me" | 35 | 1 | |
| 3 | Theresa Lowe | "Only the Lonely Survive" | 2 | 8 | |
| 4 | The Rockets | "Life in the City" | 3 | 6 | |
| 5 | John Spillane and Mandy Murphy | "Ringo" | 3 | 6 | |
| 6 | Honor Heffernan | "Honey" | 19 | 3 | |
| 7 | "Johnny, Where Are You Now?" | 22 | 2 | ||
| 8 | "If I Can Change Your Mind" | 14 | 4 | ||
| 9 | Jim Walsh | "I'll Never Love Again" | 0 | 9 |
| + Detailed Regional Jury Votes | ||||||||||||||
| Draw | Song | Total | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | "Here in the Night" | 1 | 2 | 1 | 6 | 1 | 1 | 12 | ||||||
| 2 | "You Can Count on Me" | 7 | 4 | 7 | 7 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 1 | 35 | ||||
| 3 | "Only the Lonely Survive" | 1 | 1 | 2 | ||||||||||
| 4 | "Life in the City" | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | |||||||||
| 5 | "Ringo" | 2 | 1 | 3 | ||||||||||
| 6 | "Honey" | 4 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 7 | 19 | |||||
| 7 | "Johnny, Where Are You Now?" | 2 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 8 | 5 | 3 | 22 | |||||
| 8 | "If I Can Change Your Mind" | 3 | 7 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 14 | |||||||
| 9 | "I'll Never Love Again" | 0 |
Luv Bug performed twelfth on the night of the contest, following and preceding . At the close of the voting the song had received 96 points, placing 4th in a field of 20 competing countries.[1] This high placing was the third of five straight top ten finishes, and was the run-up to Ireland's win in Brussels the next year.