The most prominent statue due a temporary relocation is the Molly Malone statue located at the bottom of Grafton Street. Since the statue is one of the city centre’s most popular tourist sights, it will be moved to outside the tourist information office on nearby Suffolk Street.

Other statues and monuments will be placed into storage rather than moved around the city. These include the Steine sculpture (corner of D’olier Street), the Lady Grattan fountain (St. Stephen’s Green) and the Thomas Moore statue on College Street. The Molly Malone and Thomas Moore statues will be the last to be moved, sometime early next year.

As well as the iconic statues, several street lamps, bollards, pavement stones and other historical street features will also be put in storage, to be reinstated when work is complete. Planners are hoping to minimise the amount of time the features are in storage.

Moving Dublin statues to make way for new developments is not without precedent. The famed Floozie in the Jacuzzi or Anna Livia statue was moved from its initial O’Connell Street home to make way for the Spire. It is now located in Croppies Acre Memorial Park near Heuston Station. A statue of Queen Victoria was erected at Merrion Square before independence. Removed in 1947, it is now on display in distant Sydney.