Dublin’s Phil Lynott statue vandalised

The popular statue of Dublin musician Phil Lynott has been removed from its city-centre location after it was vandalised in the early hours of 11 May.

The life-size bronze monument of the late Thin Lizzy frontman is to undergo repairs after two youths lifted it up and pushed it over, causing a split across the middle and jagged tear in the statue’s coat.

Following an appeal for information about the incident, two men handed themselves in at Pearse St police station where they were arrested.

The vandalism has been greeted with outrage by many in Lynott’s native Dublin however the singer’s mother Philomena, a well-known Dublin character, was reported as saying: “It seems now that it was just a bunch of high spirited boys, who meant no harm. So I am not annoyed with them. I’m only hoping that none of the lads got hurt.”

In 2005 the statue of Lynott (1949-1986) – the principal songwriter and frontman of rock group Thin Lizzy – was unveiled on Harry St, just off Grafton St. Lynott’s vocals, bass guitar and cheeky charisma paved the way for the commercial success of the band's 13 albums, as well as a string of hits and sell-out shows around the world.

Lynott was proud of his Irish heritage and became the first internationally-famous black Irishman. A journalist once asked him what it was like to be black and Irish. He replied: "Like a pint of Guinness".

He died from heart failure in 1986 after years of battling alcohol and drug addiction. His tomb in St Fintan’s cemetery in Sutton, a coastal north Dublin suburb near Howth, has since become a place of pilgrimage, and his enduring appeal sees huge crowds showing up for the “Vibe for Philo” tribute concert in Dublin every 4 January, the date of his death.