A statue of St Patrick holding a pint has been removed from Dublin’s Temple Bar, on the orders of Dublin City Council. 

The installation was put up yesterday, ahead of the annual wave of visitors to the area for St Patrick’s Day next month. 

On The Claire Byrne Show, Journal.ie journalist Sophie Finn described the removal process as a “bit of a fall from grace this morning” for Ireland’s patron saint. 

“It's about 10 metres, the actual statue,” she explained. 

“He took up the entire space on the trailer bed that it was lying on.

“But yes, it seems to be causing a bit of havoc in the area. 

“There were lots of passerbys asking the installation crew what had happened and stopping to take videos and pictures of St Patrick.”

Statue of St Patrick.

In a statement, Dublin City Council declined to say why they had ordered the statue’s removal - only that they did so as soon as they became aware of it. 

Notably, the saint’s pint was covered up during the removal process, which is perhaps at the heart of why a statue of St Patrick had to be taken down ahead of a bank holiday in his honour. 

“We have asked the Temple Bar,” Ms Finn said. 

“But there is the Advertising Standards Authority has rules that you can't market things that encourage drinking to heroes of children.

“So, if St. Patrick is considered a hero to children, perhaps that could be why he wasn't allowed to be holding the pint in such a prominent place.” 

Ms Finn continued that the workers who removed St Patrick would be happy to return him to Temple Bar if asked. 

“If they're told to put it back up, that they'll also do that,” she said. 

“But they said it was a pity and they did speculate that maybe now that he's holding a bunch of shamrocks, could he go back up? 

“But again, they didn't know.”

Main image: A statue of St Patrick.