Flower beds to be installed around Molly Malone's statue to stop punters from rubbing its breasts for 'good luck'

Dublin City Council plans to install flower beds around the base of the Molly Malone statue in a bid to prevent tourists from rubbing her breasts in Dublin.

Flower beds to be installed around Molly Malone's statue to stop punters from rubbing its breasts for 'good luck'

Tradition of giving the bronze statue's chest a rub has caused controversy

Read more: Bodyguards hired by council to stop tourists from groping and touching buxom bronze statue

By ELLEN COUGHLAN, ENTERTAINMENT AND LIFESTYLE JOURNALIST

Published: 10:35 BST, 31 August 2025 | Updated: 10:42 BST, 31 August 2025

Dublin City Council plans to install flower beds around the base of the Molly Malone statue in a bid to prevent tourists from rubbing her breasts.

The statue is one of the city's most famous tourist attractions, but the unpopular tradition of giving Molly's chest a rub for good luck has caused a lot of controversy in recent years.

The statue of the legendary fishmonger - immortalised in the song Cockles and Mussels - was installed in 1988 and quickly gained fame - but not just for its historical signifcance.

Over the years, tourists visiting Dublin have taken to grabbing the statue's breasts during photo ops - resulting in wear and tear that caused a shine on its chest.

Despite multiple attempts made by the council to protect the Molly Malone statue from groping - including raising the statue so people can no longer reach its breasts - it has proven difficult to elminiate this peculiar brand of visitor mischief.

Now Dublin City Council is 'exploring other avenues of protection for the sculpture' including installing flowers beds around the base, a spokesperson told the Irish Independent.

'All options in relation to the protection of Molly Malone are being considered by Dublin City Council.

'Flower beds are the current option being explored and, after their installation and monitoring as to their effectiveness, further consideration of other actions such as moving or raising the statue may be explored,' they added.

Dublin City Council plans to install flower beds around the base of the Molly Malone statue in a bid to prevent tourists from rubbing her breasts in Dublin

This is not the first time the council have stepped in to safeguard the bronze statue of the Irish folklore figure.

Talks have reportedly included elevating the statue onto a plinth and moving it from the tourist hotspot altogether.

In May, the council hired private security 'bodyguards' to guard the statue during peak tourist hours to discourage people from rubbing the sculpture.

Campaigners have been arguing that Molly deserves more respect for being such a legendary woman in Irish Culture.

The statue, made by late Irish sculptor Jeanne Rynhart, was unveiled on Grafton Street in 1988 before the construction of a tram line prompted a move to nearby Suffolk Street in 2014.

Molly Malone, the subject of a famous folk song about a fishmonger's daughter who sells cockles and mussels from a wheelbarrow, has become ingrained in the fabric of Irish folklore.

The song describes how 'her ghost wheels her barrow / through streets broad and narrow' after she died of a fever.

The council has not discounted the possibility of relocating it once again, and has also mooted the possibility of making it less accessible by installing a taller plinth or railings.

The statue, has long been a must-see stop on any Dublin city tour, but the unpopular tradition of giving Molly's chest a rub for good luck has caused a lot of controversy in recent years

The statue quickly gained fame, not just for its historical significance, but for the peculiar tourist habit of grabbing her breasts during photo ops. Local busker and campaigner Tilly Cripwell (pictured) has called on Dublin City Council to raise the 1988 statue out of reach so people can no longer grope the metal body part

However, those considerations must be balanced against the expense involved and the need to maintain the sculpture as a safe tourist attraction, the council added.

'The low plinth height and space around the statue allows crowds to congregate easily and the Molly Malone statue is a feature of tours given by tour guides,' a Dublin Council spokesperson told the Daily Mail.

'Moving the statue or raising the plinth are costly options and placing railing around this work may increase risk. However all options are under review by Dublin City Council for this statue at this time.

'A pilot week of stewarding will occur in May to begin educating those who are interacting with the statue and requesting they do not touch the statue or step on the plinth, and discussing the reasons for not doing so.'

The decision to deploy stewards follows a campaign launched last year by Tilly Cripwell, a student who busks near the statue, who demanded an end to the 'misogynistic tradition' of touching it.

While she welcomed plans to restore the sculpture, she branded the idea of using stewards 'short sighted and quite short term', insisting the addition of a raised plinth would be preferable.

'A lot of people clamour around her, kiss her on the cheek, kiss her boobs, it’s all inappropriate,' Cripwell told The Telegraph last year. 'It’s reducing her to this derision and not giving her the status of being a national treasure.'

Appearing on Good Morning Britain in March, the campaigner said: 'I would like for her to be raised on a higher statue to symbolically and physically elevate her, and prevent people from clambering all over her.'

The statue, by the late Irish sculptor Jeanne Rynhart, was unveiled on Grafton Street in 1988 before the construction of a tram line prompted a move to Suffolk Street, just over half a mile away, in 2014

But the campaign has faced backlash on social media, with people reminding the student that the model is 'a statue, not a real person'.

'Imagine a life so dull and empty that you start a campaign to move a statue because you think it's being touched inappropriately. It's not a real person,' one wrote on X/Twitter.

'Oh please be quiet! It's a statue not a real person!' another said.

'Did she just say she didn't want a statue to be touched "inappropriately" [...] Next they'll say she didn't give consent!'

However, others have agreed with the campaign, claiming the groping of the model encourages 'misogynistic' behaviour in men and boys.

'The Molly Malone statue in #Dublin encourages #misogynistic behaviour in boys, men and people in general. Not a good look, especially when we are seeking an equal society #GMB.'

People touch statues all over the world, believing it will bring them good luck.

One person on X, who agreed with Ms Cripwell's campaign, said the same thing happens to the statue of Juliet in Verona.

'I agree with @tilly_cripwell that this type of behaviour should change. The same is being done in #VeronaBologna to the #Juliet statue.

'Touching a woman's breast is a no-no! In my opinion.'

According to Dublin City Council's historian in residence, Catherine Scuffil, respect for the memory of a woman who, researchers now increasingly believe, may have been a real person - from the Liberties area - is paramount.

'Poor Molly doesn't deserve it,' she said of the overly tactile approach of visitors. 'Think for a minute what she represents to us. She's an image of our city. She represents the people of our city, but more importantly, she represents the women of our city. So maybe we shouldn't be treating her quite the way we are at the moment.'

'Molly means a lot to a lot of people,' Scuffil, a relative of the statue's sculptor, told RTE. 'We always use Molly Malone as our anthem, as our slogan, as our story. So she represents all of those things.

'A woman, independent means, her own trade, working in the city, you know, we should respect her a bit more.'

The council are currently organising its restoration to repair the sculpture and preserve it for future generations.

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