Ireland says it will continue its boycott of Eurovision next year over Israel’s participation

Ireland’s public broadcaster confirms that the country will continue its boycott of the Eurovision Song Contest over Israel’s participation.

“RTÉ is today confirming that its position regarding participation in the Eurovision Song Contest remains unchanged. RTÉ will not participate in the 2027 Eurovision Song Contest, nor will RTÉ broadcast the competition,” the public broadcaster says in a statement.

“RTÉ feels that Ireland’s participation cannot be justified given the appalling and ongoing loss of lives in Gaza and the humanitarian crisis there which continues to put the lives of so many civilians at risk. RTÉ also remains deeply concerned by the continued denial of independent access to international journalists to the territory,” the statement continues.

In his own statement, Eurovision director Martin Green says “we regret that RTÉ will not be participating in the Eurovision Song Contest in 2027, but we fully respect their decision.” Green adds that the EBU “will remain in dialogue with RTÉ and hope to welcome them back to the Contest in the future.”

Ireland, together with the Netherlands, Spain, Iceland and Slovenia, boycotted this year’s contest after the overwhelming majority of the rest of the members of the European Broadcasting Union voted to accept a package of reforms that would enable Israel to stay in the competition.

Last month, the Netherlands’ AVROTROS said it would also not partake in next year’s contest, but the country’s umbrella broadcaster, NPO, said it was weighing whether another TV station could take over the nation’s participation.

Iceland, Spain and Slovenia have yet to officially announce their decision. Spain and Belgium this week reportedly requested more time from the EBU to make a decision on the matter.

The 2027 Eurovision is slated for May 11-15 in Burgas, Bulgaria.