Today (Tuesday 19th May 2026) Kevin Bakhurst – the Director General of the Irish broadcaster responsible for their Eurovision Song Contest participation has spoken on RTÉ Radio 1’s Morning Ireland about the current situation regarding the boycott of Ireland in relation to the continued inclusion of Israel in the Eurovision Song Contest.
🇮🇪 Refusal of budge on boycott
As stated Mr Bakhurst reinstated RTÉ commitment to their ongoing boycott of the Eurovision Song Contest, a boycott that was conducted by four other nations; Spain, Iceland, Slovenia and the Netherlands. This is what he had to say about Ireland’s current position:-
“For us as a public service broadcaster, who believes in the importance of protecting journalists and believes in human rights, there’s no reason at the moment to change our decision.”
Kevin Bakhurst
Furthermore he stated that RTÉ will review this in the “coming months”.
🇮🇪 “A long way to go”
Following on from this Kevin Bakhurst gave a more in depth statement and this is what he had to say:-
”We haven’t started to think about next year and there is a long way to go. Our rationale still holds, civilians are dying in smaller numbers, but they are still dying in significant numbers in Gaza, and also in Lebanon. Journalists are still being targeted, and they still have been up to recently.
Kevin Bakhurst
🇧🇬 Eurovision Song Contest 2027
The Eurovision Song Contest 2027 is due to take place in Bulgaria after their victory on Saturday 16th May in Vienna, Austria with the song “Bangaranga” performed by Dara who scored 516 points, beating out Israel who came in second place with Noam Bettan’s “Michelle” who scored 343 points.
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