An Irish tourist has broken a statue outside the Brussels Stock Exchange after climbing on top of it, according to local police.

Local media reports say the ‘clearly intoxicated’ man was trying to get his photo taken while sitting on the statue of a lion and a man holding a torch.

Video footage shows the man attempting to climb down from the statue and accidentally knocking the torch – which falls to the ground and smashes to the audible gasps of onlookers.

The Stock Exchange - known as the Bourse - and the lions flanking its entrance have only just been restored at a cost of around €90m.

Nieuwsblad reports that the Bourse now wants to see the man pay the cost of the restoration of the sculpture – which is estimated at around €17,600.

A Brussels Police spokesperson said the incident happened at around 1am on Sunday night – just one day after the building reopened.

“An Irish tourist climbed onto one of the statues at the Brussels Stock Exchange building,” she said.

“When he wanted to get back down, he broke a piece of the statue.

“Police arrived at the scene [and] a police report was drawn up against the tourist.”

local reports say the man was arrested not long after the incident at a nearby fast-food restaurant.