The Molly Malone statue was erected in 1988 to celebrate the city’s first millennium – but an urban myth has led to many visitors touching its breasts in the belief it will bring good luck
A campaigner has slammed the ‘disgusting behaviour’ from members of the public who regularly grope an iconic bronze statue. Tilly Cripwell said the breasts on the Molly Malone sculpture in the centre of Dublin, Ireland have been touched so much that they have become discoloured.
The 23-year-old student enjoys busking with her guitar beside the figure, which was erected in 1988 as part of the city’s first millennium celebrations, but said she has witnessed many people putting their hands on it. Over the years, an urban myth has emerged that touching the statue’s breasts with your hands will bring good luck.
Now, the campaigner has called on Dublin City Council (DCC) to not only repair the statue but to raise it higher off the ground out of reach of any would-be gropers. “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,” she told Good Morning Britain during an appearance on the show.
While she told BBC’s Good Morning Ulster programme that the ongoing ‘violation’ of the statue is ‘wrong’ and that something needs to be done about it. “It triggered me so much, I just had to put a stop to it,” she said.
Tilly went on: “The fact that this icon is immortalised in a statue but reduced to her breasts just seems so wrong. She has already been violated and that’s shown in the gold discoloration on her breasts, so the original statue is not the same as it was.”
She added that it also “sets a really bad example to younger generations,” and claimed she has seen tourists touch the statue’s breasts up to 60 times an hour. Molly Malone is a Irish folklore woman who was said to sell shellfish in the streets of Dublin and died at a young age of fever.
It is unknown whether or not she is based on a real person but, regardless, she has gone on to represent part of the city’s working class community. Elsewhere, she is also the subject of a traditional folk song called ‘Cockles and Mussels’.
A spokesperson for DDC told BBC News NI the request for “repatination and securing the plinth is being considered” and they are awaiting cost quotations. In addition, they added: “A full report will be made to the council’s Strategic Policy Committee in April.”
However, not everyone is on Tilly’s side, with some social media users thinking that she is overreacting. “Imagine a life so dull and empty that you start a campaign to move a statue because you think it’s being touch inappropriately. It’s not a real person,” one person said on X.
Another added: “Oh please be quiet! It’s a statue not a real person!” A third asked: “Did she just say she didn’t want a statue to be touched “inappropriately” […] Next they’ll say she didn’t give consent!'”
Other users, though, were in support of the campaign and accused the public’s behaviour as ‘misogynistic’. One wrote: “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.” Another exclaimed: “Touching a woman’s breast is a no-no! In my opinion.”
This is not the first time that the statue has made the news – in 2023, it was vandalised four times in just three months. On each occasion, paint was thrown over it and at one point the phrase “7 years bad luck” was written on it, reported the Irish Mirror at the time.
