Multiple LGBTQ+ bars in Dublin are boycotting the Eurovision 2026 contest this May, including Pantibar, The George and Street 66.

Pantibar has not shown the contest in three years, with owner Rory O’Neill (stage name Panti Bliss) calling the contest a “deliberate and obvious attempt by Israel to use the song contest as a propaganda tool” in an interview with The Irish Times.

O’Neill continued, “Last year everyone was fully on board, and this year we’re not getting any complaining as I think people understand, and it has become so much easier for everyone to ignore it this year because of RTÉ not taking part.” 

He suggested the public vote last year had been manipulated in favour of Israel and criticised the use of phone-in voting. O’Neill further said, “They want that to be the narrative: ‘Look how well Israel does every year, people love Israel’.”

The performer did briefly reminisce on Eurovision nights of old, saying, “the gays love a little bit of Eurovision and we always used to make a big deal of the night… It was one of the busiest and most popular fun nights of the whole year after Pride and St Patrick’s Day.”

However, he reaffirmed his decision, saying that in good conscience he could not allow his bar to take part, “considering the scale of civilian deaths in Gaza”.

Street 66 on Parliament Street has also been a longtime supporter of the Eurovision contest boycott, with their last showing of the contest being in 2018.

In a 2019 statement, the venue stated: “Street 66 will be joining and promoting the call to boycott Eurovision 2019 in Israel and Tel Aviv Pride to help expose the Israeli government’s reprehensible co-opting of queer rights as a public relations tool to hide its crimes against Palestinians.”

The George has also joined in on the boycott, breaking their 12-year streak of hosting Eurovision event nights. 

All three Dublin bars are operating as normal this Saturday, May 16, when the Eurovision live final will take place.

All of this comes two days after RTÉ announced they would be airing the Father Ted episode ‘A Song for Europe’, instead of the Eurovision final. This marks the first time in 61 years that RTÉ has not shown any of the contest, and the first year that they have joined the boycott by not entering an act.

An official statement read, “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”.

A main concern of the broadcaster is the “targeted killing of journalists in Gaza during the conflict and the continued denied access to international journalists to the territory”.

The Eurovision contest boycott 2026 is joined by four other countries, including Iceland, the Netherlands, Slovenia, and Spain.