RTE keeps Ireland out of the Eurovision Song Contest 2027

Ireland will sit out the Eurovision Song Contest 2027, the second year in a row the country has stayed away. RTE, the Irish public broadcaster, issued a statement confirming that it will neither enter an act nor televise the contest, and said its position on Israel's participation has not changed.

The reasoning it gave was the same as last year's, framed around the humanitarian situation in Gaza rather than around the contest's rules. RTE said Israel's participation cannot be justified given the present circumstances, called for reflection on the loss of life, and added that it remains deeply concerned about the continued refusal to grant international journalists independent access to the territory.

The contest's own response was conciliatory. Martin Green, the Eurovision Song Contest director, said he regretted RTE's absence, that he fully respects the broadcaster's decision, and that the Irish broadcaster remains an important part of the contest's family and will be missed. He made the procedural point too: every broadcaster decides each year whether to enter the following one, and the organisers intend to keep talking to RTE.

Ireland is not alone. AVROTROS, the Dutch public broadcaster, has also decided against entering over Israel's participation, and Green said the organisers would continue discussions with NPO, the umbrella body for Dutch public media, to explore whether another Dutch broadcaster could take part so that Dutch audiences and artists are still represented.

The full list of participating countries for 2027 has not been published. Canada has confirmed it is in; Spain, among others, has not yet said either way, which makes the final field one of the more closely watched parts of the autumn.

The contest itself is going ahead in Bulgaria. The 71st edition will be staged in May 2027 in Burgas on the Black Sea coast, with three live shows on Tuesday 11, Thursday 13 and Saturday 15 May at the Arena Burgas, a venue that opened in 2023. Green has called the city vibrant and welcoming, with a strong musical and cultural identity and the infrastructure to host the event.

This is the third time this year that the contest's politics have generated more news than its music. We reported in August that Eurovision had rewritten its rules for countries at war, and the month before that the host city and venue were settled. The 2027 edition is logged on the festival tracker with the rest of the pop calendar.