RTÉ has requested a detailed breakdown of the public voting data from Saturday night’s Eurovision Song Contest final, following growing controversy around high televote scores awarded to Israel.
The move comes after Spanish broadcaster RTVE formally asked the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) to investigate Spain’s public vote, which awarded Israel the maximum 12 points — despite the professional jury giving the country zero.
Concerns over the public vote have also been raised by Belgium’s VRT, while several Irish opposition TDs have publicly called for RTÉ to request an audit of votes cast by Irish viewers.
In Ireland, televoters gave 10 points to Israel, while the maximum 12 went to Poland. Israel also received 10 points from the Irish public vote in last year’s contest. This year’s Irish jury gave 7 points to Israel, ranking Austria, the Netherlands, and France higher.
In a statement, RTÉ confirmed it had reached out to the EBU and its voting partner Once for a breakdown of voting figures. The broadcaster said it would also participate in a wider review of this year’s voting process, announced by Eurovision organisers.
Eurovision executive director Martin Green said concerns from participating broadcasters were being taken seriously and that a full review would follow the contest.
“The voting operation for the Eurovision Song Contest is the most advanced in the world,” Green said. “Each country’s result is checked and verified to exclude any irregular patterns, and an independent compliance monitor oversees both jury and public votes.”
Green stressed that a valid vote was recorded in all participating countries, including the Rest of the World vote, and that Eurovision’s voting partner had verified the data.
The issue came to light after both Spain and Belgium’s televoters gave Israel 12 points, while their juries awarded none. RTVE’s internal data shows it received more than 142,000 votes during the final, including 111,565 online votes. By contrast, during Tuesday’s first semi-final — in which Israel did not compete — it received just over 14,000 votes.
Belgium’s VRT said it had no evidence that vote counting was incorrect, but called for “complete transparency” from the EBU. “The question is whether the current system guarantees a fair reflection of public opinion,” a VRT spokesperson said.
Several Irish politicians have weighed in on the controversy, with TDs from Labour, the Social Democrats, Independent Ireland, Aontú, and People Before Profit backing calls for an audit of the Eurovision public vote.
They also said Israel should be barred from future contests if its military operations in Gaza continue.
Paul Murphy TD (People Before Profit) described Israel’s Eurovision participation as an attempt to “normalise a genocidal State,” arguing that Ireland should boycott the competition entirely.
“It’s all about politics from Israel’s point of view, and by participating, we’re legitimising that,” Murphy said. “Israel should be kicked out — like Russia was. If they aren’t, then we shouldn’t take part.”
Social Democrats TD Rory Hearne echoed that sentiment, calling for Israel’s exclusion from the contest. “It’s committing war crimes, it’s committing genocide. It shouldn’t be allowed to participate,” he said. He also urged RTÉ to seek full transparency in the vote.
Labour’s George Lawlor said a boycott by Ireland alone would be “tokenistic” but acknowledged that Israel must be isolated by the international community in the same way apartheid-era South Africa was.
“It’s happening in plain sight. We can’t say we haven’t seen it,” Lawlor said. “The inaction by the international community is horrendous.”
The EBU has not yet indicated whether it will formally audit the public vote, but has confirmed that discussions with broadcasters are ongoing.
