THE MOLLY MALONE statue will undergo a restoration, including implementing stewards intended to stop the “groping” of the statue.

Dublin City Council (DCC) will initiate a pilot scheme intended to stop people from touching of the statue. A move that is not an April Fool’s joke despite the day that’s in it.

A pilot scheme to hire stewards, similar to the stewards that patrolled the Dublin Portal, is to be introduced in May. The brassy discolouration of the statue will also be restored. Tour companies will also actively discourage climbing on the plinth and touching the statue. 

Tilly Cripwell, musician, launched the “Leave Molly mAlone” campaign last year after busking near the statue and noticing the inappropriate behaviour towards the statue.

“I decided that I needed to change something if I wanted to keep busking there,” she said. 

Speaking to The Journal, she said the collaborative efforts undertaken by the council are very “encouraging”. She said the efforts feel like “a small victory amongst what feels like a lot of losses for women worldwide.”

The origins of rubbing Molly Malone’s chest area for good luck is suspected to have begun in 2012 by a tour guide, or guides, though city arts officer Ray Yeates is sceptical of this origin story.

It has become common for tourists to take photographs of themselves inappropriately touching the statue.  

Yeates also said the move is to discourage people from touching works of art generally. “We don’t want anyone to touch works of art indoors or outdoors. It causes damage and has to be repaired,” he said.

In the case of Molly Malone’s statue, her chest above her low-cut top is discoloured due to the amount of people touching that part of the statue. 

The statue, located on Suffolk Street, was vandalised twice in one week in 2023. 

Molly Malone was a semi historical figure made famous by the song ‘Cockles and Mussels’.