Ireland’s national public broadcaster, RTE, announced on Thursday that the nation will abstain from both participating in and broadcasting the 2027 Eurovision Song Contest. The decision is driven by concerns over the “appalling and ongoing loss of lives in Gaza” and the severe humanitarian crisis affecting civilian populations, which the network stated makes continued involvement unjustifiable.
This withdrawal marks the second consecutive year Ireland has declined to engage with the world’s largest televised music event. The country previously boycotted the 2026 competition, joining a coalition of nations that protested Israel’s participation in the event. With this latest move, Ireland joins the Netherlands in opting out of the upcoming production, which has struggled with mounting controversy and organized boycotts in recent years.
While Eurovision organizers recently announced that countries actively involved in armed conflicts would be barred from hosting the competition, the Dutch broadcaster argued these measures were insufficient. They maintained that the event can no longer be viewed as neutral given the deep divisions surrounding the conflict in Gaza, where Israel has been at war since 2023. Israel finished as runner-up in both the 2025 and 2026 contests.
The competition, which launched in 1955, has historically served as a significant global platform for artists such as ABBA, Celine Dion, Cliff Richard, and Olivia Newton-John. However, participation numbers have fluctuated; the 2026 event saw the Netherlands, Iceland, Spain, Ireland, and Slovenia withdraw, with the latter three nations declining to broadcast the show entirely. Consequently, viewership for this year’s competition dropped to 131 million, a decline of 35 million from the previous year.
The 2027 edition of the contest is currently scheduled to be held on May 15 in the Bulgarian city of Burgas. The report also notes that the country, which also snubbed the 2026 competition over Israel’s participation, will join the Netherlands in skipping the world’s biggest live televised music event, which has been hit by a string of boycotts and contr.
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