The city said it would provide stewards for its statue of the folk song figure — and repair its bust, which has been damaged by excessive touching.
In song, and then in bronze, she has become an emblem of Irish culture and an enduring symbol of working-class Dublin.
But to the familiar folklore of Molly Malone represented in her statue on Suffolk Street in central Dublin — a pretty young face, a hawker’s cart of cockles and mussels, a low-cut frilly dress — a new element will soon be added: wardens, provided by Dublin City Council.
The life-size statue was erected to commemorate the central figure of “Molly Malone” or “Cockles and Mussels,” a song belted out during St. Patrick’s Day celebrations around the world. The City Council said on Thursday that it was responding to complaints about people, especially tourists, touching the statue.
More specifically, the problem is with visitors grabbing and rubbing the statue’s breasts, supposedly for luck — something they do so often that its bust has become discolored.
The stewards will be positioned next to the statue for a week in May, and will not only guard it, but also try to educate tourists about it, the council said in a statement. The city will also repair the damage to the statue’s bust, a process that it has had to repeat over the years.
It is responding in part to a “Leave Molly mAlone” campaign led by Tilly Cripwell, 23, a final-year student at Trinity College Dublin who is also a regular busker on Suffolk Street.