YOU can now use your smartphone to speak to the statue of Molly Malone in Dublin.
A new initiative called the Fáilte Ireland's Talking Statues project allows visitors to "take a call" from statues ranging from Molly Malone to Oscar Wilde - by using smartphones to detect a QR code installed on plaques placed alongside the statues.
After swiping, the historic figures will speak to you via the voices of several of Ireland’s most famous actors, including Gabriel Byrne, Andrew Scott, Ruth Negga and Brenda Fricker.
Molly Malone's statue on Suffolk Street has become the most recent addition to be equipped with the technology, with her words narrated by actress and singer, Maria Doyle Kennedy.
Her script was written by US student Michaela McMahon, who beat 150 entrants to win a public competition and attend the Dublin launch this week.
She is currently studying for dual degrees in English Literature and Cultural and Historic Preservation - and had just completed a semester at University College Cork as an exchange student when she won.
The Lord Mayor of Dublin Nial Ring said: "Molly Malone is part of the fabric of the city and one of our most iconic historical figures.
"Her struggles, hardships and endurance are world-renowned and now, for the first time in over 300 years, Dubliner's and visitors alike will once again hear her voice ring through the streets of Dublin.
"The Molly Malone statue was one of our original 'moving statues' - now she is one of our first 'talking statues'."
Phrases the Molly Malone statue will say are:
"I'm not sure what I wait for. In life, I would dangle my pale feet off the wharf towards the dark Liffey while waiting for the tide to carry the bright-hulled fishing boats in.
"I sold my goods on the noisy streets of Dublin. And I would have continued, if I hadn't fallen ill. Even the smallest illness was serious.
"Dublin is different now. So many streets. And at one time I knew them all.
"They are like rivers you know. People flow much like water, ambling aimlessly, or hurrying down Grafton purposefully; eddies of people swirling past like the Liffey after a cleansing rain. And my little street in the middle of it all.
"Quite exciting. And dizzying somehow. I never want for company. People can be a little too familiar with me though - not my fault I'm stuck in this dress.
"I certainly didn't choose it. The things people do sometimes, and all in the shadow of a church!
"If I could move - well. I do like visitors though, when people are polite, and do not take endless selfies.
"I would take pictures for them if they asked. And if I could. I smile a little when someone walks by humming the song - 'Alive, Alive, Oh.” Funny how I ended up in a song. I wish I could ask for flowers - any type really. You miss little things while on a plinth.
"I can still tell you with certainty where to find the best seafood in Dublin.
"Immobility means nothing in that case. Just don't ask me what I think of mussels.
"People watching - a favourite from my perch, as it was when I pushed my cart. I like my rock amongst the river. Dublin is a good place to rest."
