The Head of Delegation of Ireland, Michael Kealy, has made public that the fee to compete in the Eurovision Song Contest is going up again. The European Broadcasting Union (EBU) confirms this matter.
The fee is going up
In an interview, Michael Kealy, Head of the Irish Delegation had he stated that the fee to compete in the Eurovision Song Contest is going up; this interview was with Éirevision. This information was shared during the Head of Delegations meeting in Berlin last September. How much the increase will be was not made public.
According to the EBU the contest is currently not “financially sustainable”. What this means specifically is not known.
Ireland
When it comes down to Ireland in the contest, the country paid 105,099 euro in 2023 to compete, and in 2022 this was 92,588 euro, which means an increase of 12,511 euro.
The national broadcaster of Ireland, RTÉ, spends one third of its annual budget to compete in Eurovision. This budget is paid to the Eurovision Song Contest (EBU).
Other participation fees
Below you can see participation fees of other countries.
- Romania: 2022 – 160,000 euro| 2023 – 180,000 euro (+ 20,000 euro)
- Spain: 2022 – 302,697 euro | 2023 – 347,697 (+ 45,000 euro)
The reason for the increase in 2022 and 2023 is also because Russia and Belarus are not in the contest anymore; Russia was one of the biggest contributors of Eurovision. Next to this, there is the inflation in Europe.
Eurovision 2023
In 2023 three countries could not compete because of financial reasons, these countries were the following: Bulgaria, Montenegro, and North Macedonia.