I wrote this for the Irish Independent recently, reposting it here after Eurovision itself…
The Eurovision Song Contest – that magnificently mad cavalcade of camp, daftness, sentimentality and unabashed good vibes – has been part of Ireland’s cultural tapestry since inception. We love it, hate it, love to hate it…but always watch it.
The 2026 iteration runs from Tuesday to Saturday in Vienna. However, despite it being the 70th anniversary, and our standing (still, somehow) as joint-highest winners, this year’s competition won’t be watched here – or at least, not on our public broadcaster.
Ireland is boycotting Eurovision, in protest at Israel’s involvement. Four other nations are also boycotting the contest itself, but we – ever-determined to signal our moral superiority to everyone else – went further, not even airing it on telly. (Slovenia has since done the same.)
I keep saying “Ireland” and “we”, as if this is some collective decision taken by the people. But of course, it’s nothing like that. RTÉ have decided, on our behalf, to boycott Eurovision.
To be specific, National Union of Journalists (NUJ) members: Montrose management make the final call, but this has been driven by union foot-stamping. Indeed it gets worse: NUJ head office told me last year that it wasn’t the union per se, but the RTÉ branch, calling for Israel’s removal.
So you have a tiny sub-sub-section (RTÉ) of a sub-section (NUJ) of a section (journalists/media) of the population, choosing whether the public can watch Eurovision on a channel they own – and are legally obliged to pay for. The same public who in the previous two years gave their first and second televote preferences to Israel.
Not so much the tail wagging the dog, then, as the fleas on the end of the tail.
Last May I wrote to the union, objecting to their partisanship on Israel/Gaza, after they’d shared a one-sided ICTU flyer. I said Ireland should be neutral, and ultimately didn’t see what any of this had to do with the NUJ, whose purpose is to represent the interests of Irish and UK journalists – not stick its oar in on very complex situations thousands of miles away.
The fact that they tried to get a young woman, Yuval Raphael, kicked out of Eurovision last year – who survived Hamas’ mass rape, torture and murder of October 2023 by hiding under friends’ corpses for eight hours – was, pardon the pun, the most tone-deaf thing I’d ever encountered.
I asked for Irish secretary Seamus Dooley to respond, though without much hope, as I was still waiting on a promised call from February about an unrelated matter.
The office – not him – replied that they “just send on the information” from ICTU. I said by sharing something, you’re implicitly endorsing it. Also, I couldn’t remember the NUJ ever expressing support of Israel’s right to self-defence, or sympathy after horrors like October 7th: even when actual Irish citizens (Kim Damti and Emily Hand) were killed or kidnapped.
Three months later, I’d heard nada. I wrote again: “I naively thought the NUJ was a union which worked for its members; I see now it’s made itself a player in geopolitics, and lobbyist for certain groups, for some reason.” Which was fine, I guess, but I was out.
They expressed regret that I was going and said I was welcome to rejoin anytime. C’est tout.
Incidentally, I’d already left the NUJ in 2007, after requests for guidance on something were ignored for six months. I only rejoined, early last year, to verify rumours that the union was taking a sort of “class action” over historic holiday and PRSI compensation. They wouldn’t tell me if it was true or not until I rejoined.
(It wasn’t, which makes the whole thing even more teeth-grinding.)
These people are beyond useless: they’re dangerously useless. Their frothing one-sidedness emboldens Islamist extremists and makes life even more difficult for the tiny population of Irish Jews, regardless of anyone’s “good intentions” starting out.
And they’re useless, literally, as a union. The NUJ exists to advocate for journalists, nothing else. They have no purpose or reason to exist otherwise.
But this is symptomatic of modern life. Ironically, despite online scolds – the kind of people screeching loudest for Israel boycotts – constantly lecturing everyone to “stay in their lane”, nobody seems to do that anymore.
The NUJ are now geopolitical activists. The GAA, a sporting/cultural body, launches an initiative on domestic violence. During Covid you had teaching associations assuming the mantle of responsibility for healthcare, instead of ensuring the well-being of children, which was their job.
Entertainers don’t just entertain, they board a flotilla or pontificate on global warning. Our last President seemed to feel he had the right and obligation to do basically anything except the actual job of President.
On it goes, dismally. It’s at times like this the soul needs a balm, a distraction, something to lift the mood. I recommend the Eurovision: it’s on UK telly and the contest’s YouTube channel. Enjoy.
Darragh McManus, author and journalist 