Irish Eurovision winner Paul Harrington has said Ireland's decision not to participate in next year's Eurovision Song Contest "will have an impact".
EBU members meeting at the Winter General Assembly in Geneva decided not to call a vote on whether Israel should take part, clearing the way for it to enter the 2026 contest in Vienna. Instead, members overwhelmingly backed a package of new rules intended to discourage governments and third parties from disproportionately promoting entries to sway the result.
Speaking on RTÉ's Six One News, Harrington, who won the competition in 1994 alongside Charlie McGettigan with the song Rock 'n' Roll Kids, said the withdrawal will be a "big thing" for those involved in the contest.
"We've been out before, where we haven't qualified or whatever," he said. "Look, there have been problems in the past - there have been boycotts and people have withdrawn many years ago, even during the whole voting system. It will have an impact."
Mr Harrington said the idea of the contest was to "bring everybody together" and leave politics aside.
"But the truth of the matter is, the people who are going to be affected by this are the participants. This is going to be a big thing for them and for their lives.
"This is going to be a big thing for them going into a contest that is going to be seen by millions of people.
"The whole idea of the Eurovision Song Contest was to bring everybody together - leave the politics at the door. I don't know what the ultimate impact will be, but it certainly will have an effect for sure. If there are several other countries like the Netherlands and Spain, maybe there will be safety in numbers when everyone has to try to get back in again."
Ireland has participated in the Eurovision Song Contest, which attracts an audience of around 160 million viewers worldwide, 58 times since 1965, missing only the 1983 and 2002 editions.
