Sir, – Whither the statue of poet and minstrel Thomas Moore who greeted your gaze with his “roguish finger” outstretched on Westmoreland Street? Gone for now because of the Luas works.
As Leopold Bloom noted “they did right to put him up over a urinal; meeting of the waters”.
Unlike Molly Malone, Moore did exist and with his Moore's Melodies contributed much more to the musical reputation of the city than the "drunken draggletail Dublin drab" so often captured by bad singers of Cockles and Mussels.
They seem to flock to her now from all over the world with their PA systems in tow and blast out ear-tingling renditions of the song by the “dish with the fish”. Pop down there any afternoon and you’ll get an earful.
Had more imagination been used by our city fathers, Moore could have occupied the spot now taken by Molly outside St Andrew’s Church where he sometimes worshipped. She could have been positioned close to her spiritual home on Henry Street near the street sellers, that way redressing the huge imbalance of north-southside tourist footfall.
– Yours, etc,
COLM QUILLIGAN
Dublin 8.