Irish Examiner view: Nil points for Eurovision organisers’ dithering

The 69th Eurovision Song Contest took place in Basel, Switzerland, last year. RTÉ will not be broadcasting this year's competition. File picture: Martin Meissner/AP

For the legions of Eurovision fans across the globe — and there are truly legions of them — this is the week they’ve waited for all year. Last night, the 70th Eurovision Song Contest, generally regarded as the world’s biggest live televised music event, began in Vienna.

Granted, the experience has changed a lot: What was one night’s entertainment years ago now goes on for several days in order to accommodate the increased numbers of countries competing. But one country which will not have an entry in this year’s competition is Ireland, which is not broadcasting the event either.

The song contest is run by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and RTÉ was one of the five broadcasters which announced in December that it would not enter the competition, along with other EBU members Spain (RTVE), the Netherlands (Avrotros), Iceland (RUV), and Slovenia (RTV), though the Netherlands and Iceland will broadcast the event.

The reason for the boycott is the continued presence of Israel in the competition, given that country’s involvement in killing thousands of people in Gaza.

Questions have also been raised in recent years about the integrity of the voting process, but Ireland’s stance was articulated last September in an RTÉ statement stressing that our participation in the event “would be unconscionable given the ongoing and appalling loss of lives in Gaza”.

One of the key points made in discussions about Israel’s participation has centred on inconsistency. Many people have pointed out that the EBU banned Russia from participating in the Eurovision after that country invaded Ukraine in 2022 but has not done the same with Israel.

The dithering and equivocation from the EBU on that inconsistency is in sharp contrast with the stance taken on this by RTÉ, which has been definite.

The Eurovision experience may be diluted for Irish fans this week, but even diehard followers of the event will acknowledge that the atrocities in Gaza outweigh all considerations.

State funding for school libraries long overdue

At times it appears that our children are beset on all sides by distrac

tions and dangers. Between the encroaching shadow of artificial intelligence (AI) and what that augurs for those still in education, and the ongoing threat of exploitation and abuse of teens and children through social media, the challenges can appear never-ending.

All the more reason, then, to support the call made by Children’s Books Ireland (CBI) at an Oireachtas briefing yesterday. CBI campaigns for equal access to books for all children on the island of Ireland and this week the organisation called for permanent funding for school libraries.

This may seem an odd request to make at first glance, but the CEO of CBI, Elaina Ryan, made a strong case for such funding when she pointed out that money for school libraries had been cut fully “overnight” in 2008.

She added that since then most schools had had no investment in books, apart from one government programme back in 2020, with many of those schools contacting CBI for help in sourcing books.

This is a staggering indictment of successive governments, an own goal so monumental it is difficult to know how to enumerate all the problems it creates.

Access to books is not just a cornerstone of education: One could argue that it is education. Enabling children to read as well and as early as possible is central to later success in education, not mention being essential in combatting social inequality and disadvantage.

It should also be noted that reading and education are the best possible strategies to counteract social media exploitation as well as an over-reliance on AI. On a broader front, Ireland’s international standing as a matchless incubator of literary talent, as well as our long-standing reputation for a well-educated young workforce, are both undercut by such under-investment in school libraries.

This is a relatively easy fix for the Government, which should pay heed to CBI’s call for funding as soon as possible.

Fuel protesters, please take note

Readers will be well aware of the 24-hour ambulance strike action, which began yesterday at 8am.

More than 2,000 Siptu and Unite members of the National Ambulance Service (NAS) voted for strike action last week relating to a dispute over salary scales in the service.

Before the strike began, the HSE had acknowledged that the capacity of the NAS would be “significantly impacted”, and that people should consider making their own way to hospital rather than relying on ambulances.

There is no denying that a reduced ambulance service is a considerable challenge, one which presents real problems and risks for people seeking medical help.

The HSE stressed that ambulances would still be available for emergency situations and that such time-critical cases would be prioritised, but to describe this situation as an inconvenience is a considerable understatement.

However, there is another perspective on the ambulance strike. It was undertaken by recognised trade unions and the HSE, the organisation most likely to be affected, had plenty of notice and time to organise contingency plans.

The public also knew well in advance that there would be disruption, which meant people had the opportunity to make alternative arrangements.

On that score, the contrast with the recent fuel protests could hardly be greater. In that case, there were illegal blockades and little advance notice of disruption from those protesting, who were not shy of stressing their importance to the nation.

The ambulance workers have made a similar point far more effectively.

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