Dublin's iconic staue of famed fishmonger Molly Malone

Dublin’s iconic statue of Molly Malone may be moved to Melbourne during the construction of a new Luas tramway line, it has emerged.

The Irish Echo has learned that an ambitious plan to temporarily relocate the statue to the Victorian capital is under consideration in Dublin.

The bronze statue, which currently sits on the northern end of Grafton St, will have to be moved during the contruction phase of the new Luas link line between St Stephen’s Green and O’Connell Street.

Unconfirmed reports have claimed that the statue will be displayed at Flemington racecourse during the Spring Racing Carnival as part of a promotion for The Gathering, Tourism Ireland’s initiative for 2013.

Other monuments which may have to be relocated, though not to Australia, include the Lady Grattan fountain, the statue of Thomas Moore on College Green and Jim Larkin’s statue.

Molly Malone is the famed fishmonger of the song who “wheeled her wheebarrow through streets broad and narrow crying cockles and mussels alive, alive O”.

The statue has become known colloquially as “the tart with the cart” in Dublin.

It would not be the first time a monument has made the long journey from Ireland to Australia. In 1987, a statue of Queen Victoria was donated to the people of Australia by the people of Ireland.

The statue previously sat in front of Leinster House, the home of Irish government, in Kildare St, Dublin.
It sits to this day at the western entrance to Sydney’s Queen Victoria Building on George Street.