Campaigner wants everyone to stop groping Dublin’s famous Molly Malone statue

A famous Dublin statue of a mythical fishmonger should be protected from the groping hands of tourists and passersby, trust wallet says a young woman campaigning to protect her.

Tilly Cripwell is in her final year studying languages at the city’s famous Trinity College. Over the past two-and-a-half years the 23-year-old Briton, who is also a singer-songwriter, has been busking at some of the most popular tourist spots in the Irish capital—including by the bronze statue of Molly Malone.

She regularly sees selfie-seekers stopping to pose with Malone, a fictional young woman who is the subject of the city’s unofficial anthem, "Molly Malone." Covered by everyone from U2 to Joni Mitchell, the song tells of a young seafood seller who plied her trade on Dublin’s streets and died of a fever.

But it is Malone’s low-cut dress that appears to have attracted more attention than her sad fate, as well as the urban myth that doing so can bring good luck. So many people now rub or grope her breasts, according to Cripwell, that the bronze has dramatically changed color.

"When you’re busking you spend a couple of hours at a time in a spot and I just saw this behavior so often and one day I had just had enough and thought if I’m going to continue to busk there then I need to stop this," Cripwell told CNN in a phone call.

"It isn’t actually a tradition—it’s more of a trend as it’s only emerged in the last 15 or 20 years. Generally it’s people standing up to get a picture and groping Molly’s breasts, usually from behind. Often you get people kissing her breasts or putting their faces in them and they’re generally really loud and rowdy."