An Irish Goodbye: Ireland becomes first country to announce a boycott of Eurovision 2027

Ireland's Broadcasting Authority (RTE) announced Thursday that it does not intend to participate in the 2027 Eurovision Song Contest, which will be held in Burgas, Bulgaria, due to Israel's participation. The Irish authority also announced that it will not broadcast the upcoming contest for this reason.

In a statement released by the Irish Broadcasting Authority, it said that "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."

Ireland had previously been one of five countries that boycotted this year's Eurovision Song Contest; the others were Spain, the Netherlands, Slovenia, and Iceland. Ireland first participated in the Eurovision Song Contest in 1965, and since then has won it seven times, the highest number of wins in the competition.

Earlier this month, the Dutch broadcaster Avrotros announced that it also does not intend to participate in the upcoming Eurovision. Then, the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) announced that it is continuing negotiations regarding Dutch participation in the contest with the umbrella organization of public broadcasting in the Netherlands (NPO).

The EBU hopes to bring in another broadcasting entity to represent the country.

The announcement from the Irish Broadcasting Authority comes despite the EBU's declaration of a change to the Eurovision Song Contest regulations, stipulating that a country involved in an armed conflict that wins the contest will not be able to host it on its territory the following year. The Dutch broadcaster Avrotros claimed that these changes "are insufficient to ensure that the competition's neutral and independent character has been restored."