The Director General of the Irish public broadcaster RTÉ has confirmed he sees no reason for the broadcaster to return to the Eurovision Song Contest currently.
Speaking on Morning Ireland on RTÉ Radio 1, Kevin Bakhurst, the Director General of RTÉ, confirmed that the broadcaster currently sees “no reason” to return to the Eurovision Song Contest. He said in the interview that:
“We haven’t started to think about next year and there’s a long way to go. Our rationale still holds, civilians are still 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.
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 but we will review it in the coming months.”
Ireland withdrew from competing in the Eurovision Song Contest 2026 in Vienna, Austria in protest at Israel’s continued participation in the competition. In a statement in December 2025, the broadcaster explained:
RTÉ feels that Ireland’s participation remains unconscionable given the appalling loss of lives in Gaza and the humanitarian crisis there which continues to put the lives of so many civilians at risk. RTÉ remains deeply concerned by the targeted killing of journalists in Gaza during the conflict and the continued denial of access to international journalists to the territory.”
Ireland was one of five broadcasters that withdrew from the Eurovision Song Contest 2026 in protest at Israel’s continued participation. The EBU stated in the build up to the contest in Vienna, that it hoped to continue to work with RTÉ to discuss and work on the concerns expressed by the broadcaster about the contest. Martin Green, Director of the Eurovision Song Contest told the Irish broadcaster last week:
All I can say is we’re doing everything we can to allay their concerns. As you might imagine, all the conversations so far end with, ‘Let’s see how this year goes, and we’ll see where we go.’”
Source: Éirevision Podcast / RTÉ
Ireland in the Eurovision Song Contest+
Ireland debuted in the Eurovision Song Contest in 1965 and is the joint most successful country to have participated in the contest, winning a total of seven times. During the 1990s, Ireland was a powerhouse in the contest, becoming the first country to win three years in a row from 1992 to 1994. In the 2000s, Ireland struggled in the contest, having qualified from the semi-final just 7 out of a possible 19 times. In 2024, Bambie Thug gave Ireland their best result since 2000, finishing in 6th place.