Dublin City Council is considering a request to elevate the Molly Malone statue on Suffolk Street to prevent what the council cals “ongoing groping incidents.”
Proposed changes include raising the statue, restoring its original appearance, and adding a plaque that explains its history and significance.
The statue, created by Jeanne Rynhart and first set up in 1988, has faced vandalism and repeated controversies about sometime inappropriate behaviour from tourists. Following a tradition of irreverence directed towards public art, it was nicknamed “the tart with the cart” in popular culture soon after its erection.
To mark International Women’s Day 2025, Tilly Cripwell, a busker and campaigner recently launched the ‘leave Molly mAlone’ campaign to address the issue imposed some extra verses of the famous broadsheet ballad “Molly Malone”, linked to an event advocating against gender-based violence:
- In Dublin’s Fair City
- They all say she’s pretty
- As they chose to show its by touching her so
- Her ghost can still see you
- But she sure would not feel you
- If she was there beside you if she was alive oh
- Alive alive oh if she was alive oh
- Crying stop that’s enough, alive alive oh
- Crying her leave her alone, Molly Malone
- No no one can save here
- From the people who crave her
- And I want to scream just leave Molly Malone
- Like those with no voice
- She’s left with no choice
- Crying leave her alone, leave Molly alone
- Alive alive oh if she was alive oh
- Crying stop that’s enough, so leave Molly Malone
- Alive alive oh if she was alive oh
- Crying stop that’s enough, so leave Molly Malone
