IRELAND — Irish public broadcaster RTÉ is boycotting this year's Eurovision Song Contest in protest against Israel's inclusion and will broadcast the 1996 Father Ted episode A Song for Europe in place of the final. The chosen episode features Father Ted and Father Dougal performing the song "My Lovely Horse" and earning nul points.

RTÉ is among several European broadcasters opting out of the contest in Austria. Spain, Slovenia, the Netherlands and Iceland have declined to send competitors. Slovenia's broadcaster will air documentaries under the theme "Voices of Palestine" instead of the grand final, while Spain's broadcaster will run a music programme called The House of Music. Singers and bands from 35 countries will compete in Austria under the motto "united by music."

The boycott followed calls for the European Broadcasting Union to change rules to deter countries from organising voting campaigns, after Israeli singer Yuval Raphael received the largest number of public votes last year and finished second overall.

Graham Linehan, co-creator of Father Ted, criticised the broadcaster's decision to schedule the episode. "RTÉ is using the show as a tool of antisemitic harassment," Linehan said. He said "it was an act of pointed, gleeful counter-programming" and demanded the resignation of RTÉ director-general Kevin Bakhurst.

The Irish website Extra.ie described the programming decision as "genius trolling" and referred to the move as "my lovely boycott."

Father Ted ran on Channel 4 from 1995 to 1998 and won several awards. In A Song for Europe, Ted and Dougal represent Ireland with a song about a horse, chosen because they believed its poor quality would prevent Ireland from winning and thus hosting the next contest. The ruse succeeds and the priests earn zero points.

The plot referenced Ireland's dominance of the contest in that era. After winning in 1992 and 1993, Ireland selected "Rock 'n' Roll Kids" in 1994 with the intention of losing, but it won. Ireland's streak culminated in 1996 with its seventh win, a record matched only by Sweden. Some observers blamed Ireland's subsequent Eurovision defeats partly on the 2008 decision to enter Dustin the Turkey, a children's puppet that sang "Irelande Douze Pointe" from a shopping trolley.