Why Ireland is breaking Eurovision tradition with 2026 song contest boycott

For the first time in 61 years, TV producers in Ireland won't air the incoming Eurovision Song Contest final.

Since 1965, Ireland's national broadcaster RTÉ has aired the international music competition to the 600,000+ Irish audience that tunes in each year.

The nation jointly holds the record for the most Eurovision victories with Sweden, each having bagged a staggering seven trophies since the tournament began.

This year's competition kicked off on Tuesday (12 May) at Wiener Stadthalle in Vienna following the 2025 victory of Austrian musician JJ, who won with his toe-tapping track, 'Wasted Love'.

This year, however, Ireland's entertainment executives made the difficult decision to boycott the forthcoming final, which will take place on Saturday night.

Instead, the slot will be filled by a classic episode of the popular sitcom Father Ted.

An episode of Father Ted will air in place of the Eurovision final (Channel 4)

The decision was announced back in September, when RTÉ representatives slammed Israel's participation in the competition in light of the country's treatment of Palestinian people living in Gaza over the last two years.

According to The Independent, which cited a Hamas-run health ministry estimate, over 72,300 Palestinians have been killed since the 7 October 2023 attack.

While Russia was banned from the competition in 2022 following its brutal attack on Ukraine the year prior, Israel's involvement has never been disallowed.

"RTE feels that Ireland’s participation would be unconscionable given the ongoing and appalling loss of lives in Gaza," a spokesperson told the press. "RTE is also deeply concerned by the targeted killing of journalists in Gaza, the denial of access to international journalists to the territory, and the plight of the remaining hostages."

Israel was permitted to compete (Amir Levy/Getty Images)

Ireland, which recognised Palestinian Statehood in 2024, joins the likes of Spain and Slovenia in sitting out of this year's soiree, which just so happens to be the 70th of its kind.

Iceland and the Netherlands also confirmed earlier this year that they wouldn't be sending any representatives to Vienna, but would still air the final.

In place of the final evening, RTÉ will air 'A Song For Europe', a much-loved Eurovision-themed instalment of Father Ted, in which chaos-causing priests Ted and Dougal perform their rendition of 'My Lovely Horse'.

To this day, the episode is recognised as one of the most popular from the hit Channel 4 show, which starred Dermot Morgan and Ardal O'Hanlon.

Ireland's decision hasn't gone down too well with one of Father Ted's creators, Graham Linehan, however.

Several other nations are boycotting this year's competition (Harold Cunningham/Getty Images)

In a scathing statement, he demanded the resignation of the broadcaster’s director-general, Kevin Bakhurst, accusing him of using his series as a 'tool of antisemitic harassment', as well as an 'act of pointed, gleeful counter-programming'.

The backlash also comes after Ireland became the first European country to pass a law banning trade with Israeli settlements across both the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

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