Molly Malone is back on the streets today after being removed from her former home at the bottom of Grafton Street at the end of April.
The statue was whisked off to make way for construction of the Luas cross-city project that will link the red and green Luas lines. The line is on track to open in October 2017.
Molly will stay on a plinth at her new home in front of the Saint Andrew’s Church tourist office on Suffolk Street until 2017, when she’ll move back to her original location.
Luas cross city director Gráinne Mackin says the statue is “not too far from home”.
A number of other “heritage pieces” were taken off the streets for the Luas works and are in safekeeping with the Natural History Museum until 2017. But the iconic bronze statue was cleaned up and put back on display after a couple of months to appease disappointed tourists.
“Tourists were genuinely curious as to where she was, and it became very obvious that we couldn’t keep her in storage for three years,” said Ms Mackin.
Minister for Tourism Paschal Donohoe said he was "delighted" to be at the unveiling of the Molly Malone statue, which was moved to facilitate the "hugely important" work taking place on the Luas cross-city project.
“At a time of great financial difficulty for the country, it’s a project the Government prioritised because it’s going to link up a lot of travel and rail infrastructure,” the Minister said.