The head of the RTÉ Delegation at the Eurovision Song Contest has said that this year’s event is not a normal Eurovision and that there is tension in the air in Malmö.
Last night’s second semi-final in the Swedish city saw Israeli entry Eden Golan qualify for Saturday’s grand final amid ongoing protests over her homeland’s participation and whether the European Broadcasting Union should allow the country to take part following its war in Gaza.
Speaking on the Ray D’Arcy Show on Friday, Michael Kealy, who is heading up his twelfth Eurovision for RTÉ, said, “There’s a lot of security around. It’s not a normal Eurovision to be honest with you. There is normally a carnival like atmosphere.
“Here, it’s very lowkey compared to the last time we were in Malmö eleven years ago. This year there’s very little sense that the Eurovision is happening if you drive out of town. The security is probably the tightest I’ve ever seen at the Eurovision.”
Speaking about ongoing calls for this year’s show to be boycotted and whether the European Broadcasting Union should show more leadership towards their member states, Mr Kealy said, “To be honest, I’ve always had the view that this thing is a bit different from other events, it was specifically set up to bring countries together after the Second World War at a time when Europe was fractured.
“They wanted to bring Europe together through a shared love of music and entertainment and that’s a very noble and worthwhile thing to do.
“This is my personal opinion but anything that prevents artists from coming together and sharding music and culture and ideas feels inherently a bad thing. That’s my gut reaction.”
Speaking about what many see as double standards in the EBU’s decision to let Israel take part after the banning of Russia over their invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Mr Kealy said, “It’s a very difficult situation for the EBU to manage and I know people point out Russia and say the EBU threw Russia out of the contest when they invaded Ukraine and why can’t they do the same for Israel.
“But there’s more to it than meets the eye. The Russia broadcaster was in breach of the rules of membership of the EBU and that was mainly the reason they were thrown out.
“Kan, the Israeli broadcaster, is an independent broadcaster like RTÉ. They are not a mouthpiece for the government, unlike the Russian broadcaster, which is purely a propaganda tool of Putin, so there are differences.
“The EBU maintain that Kan still fulfil all the requirements of membership so they were entitled to be a part of this year’s event.”
Asked by Ray D’Arcy if he understood why so many people were upset and angry at Israel’s participation, Mr Kealy said, “Of course I do. I just think focussing on this event and somehow if we can prevent this event from happening, we can help Gaza. I don’t think it will. Bringing artists together is all about the sharing of ideas and culture and that is at the heart of any sort of peace.
“People get to understand and know their neighbours. That why I think it’s slightly misguided and I understand that people have a different view and I respect that. I admire the commitment people have to drawing attention to the situation.”
“Not one of the European broadcasters has decided to boycott it.”
418,000 viewers watched the first semi-final on RTÉ One last Tuesday, which saw Bambie Thug become the first Irish entry to qualify for the final since 2018 with her song Doomsday Blue.
Speaking about the tension in the Irish camp as the ten qualifying countries were read out, Mr Kealy said, “We suspected strongly on Tuesday that we would quality but you never know and as the countries were called one after another you begin to have doubts.
“It was pretty torturous. We were called ninth out of ten and it was deliberate. If I were producing that show, I’d do the same thing.
“Because we hadn’t qualified in so long, you want to build tension and Bambie was making a lot of noise in a good way with all the fans, they wanted to keep everyone on the edge of their seats when it came to us. They wanted us to squirm for a while.”
Plenty of people are talking about a win for Bambie Thug tomorrow night but Mr Kealy was reluctant to commit himself too soon to an Irish victory.
“I don’t want to get ahead of ourselves or jinx our chances but we are certainly in with a very good chance,” he said. “That’s as much as I’ll allow myself!”
Bambie Thug will perform tenth on Saturday night’s Eurovision Song Contest on RTÉ One and the RTÉ Player at 8.00pm
