The tradition of rubbing Moly Malone’s breasts is a harmless bit of fun and those campaigning against it are overthinking things once again, according to Ciara Kelly.

A Dublin busker has launched a new campaign urging people to ‘Leave Molly mAlone’ in protest against the tradition of touching the Dublin statue’s breasts.

Trinity student Tilly Cripwell says she busks near the Suffolk Street statue for around 10 hours each week and believes that tradition is one of many that “needs to be questioned and quashed”.

While the tradition suggests touching the statue brings good luck, Ms Cripwell believes it is based on misogyny.

On Newstalk Breakfast, host Ciara Kelly said she has no issue with the tradition whatsoever.

“I don’t care about it,” she said.

“As in, I would rub Molly Malone’s breasts myself; I wouldn’t think anything of it and I have rubbed other statues in other cities.”

“In Florence, there is a very famous similar bronze statue which is of a cinghiale, which is a boar, and it has kind of little tusks and stuff and when you go to Florence you rub the cinghiale’s nose and so he has a really golden shiny nose and the rest of him is brown.

“It is just one of those things you do and here’s the thing, it is not real.

“She’s not real, she is a statue. It is not like people are coming in and just groping [a woman].”

The Molly Malone statue in Dublin City Centre after suffering vandalism for a second time in a week. 22-08-2023. Image: Sasko Lazarov/RollingNews

Fellow presenter Shane Coleman said he finds the tradition “weird”.

“Here’s the other thing, it is not good luck,” he said. “I actually think it is weird.

“I’m sorry but there’s a huge difference between rubbing a nose and rubbing a breast. Whether it’s a statue or not, we are talking about groping breasts.

“I walked past the other day and it was actually a woman doing it and I just thought, that is absolutely bonkers; that is weird.”

Harmless

Ciara said it is a harmless tradition.

“I think that’s what we’ve become in the modern era – we kind of go, ‘Oh, this is a disgrace,’ when actually, it is nothing at all.

“Also, we are kind of going from A to B and we’re kind of saying that it means we’re rubbing all women’s breasts or we’re demeaning women or we’re assaulting people.

“We’re not doing any of those things, it is a statue.

“I’ve rubbed the boar’s nose in Florence and I don’t see any difference.”

"Very prominent boobs"

When Shane said he views it as “the oddest thing ever”, Ciara quipped that the statue, ‘has very prominent boobs’.

“You said you had never noticed her boobs were golden before because you only looked at her face – and I don’t believe you,” she laughed.

“I just think we’re overthinking this and we do this all the time.

“I’ve actually never touched them, but I’m going to go down after the show and give them a rub.

“First of all, she’s a fictitious character and second of all, it’s a statue, it’s not a woman.”

She said people all over the world rub statues for good luck.