Dublin City Council is to hire stewards to patrol the Molly Malone statue to try to discourage the practice of people 'groping' the sculpture.
The stewards will be introduced on a pilot basis in May and will have a similar role to those who were hired to supervise the Dublin Portal following issues with anti-social behaviour last year.
The tradition of rubbing the famous fishmonger's breast for luck is believed to have begun around 2012 and is thought to have been instigated by an imaginative tour guide.
However, it has resulted in the statue becoming discoloured around the figure's neckline.
Dublin City Council Arts Officer Ray Yeates said the practice has caused "worry and discomfort" and he has concerns about the safety of people perching on the plinth to touch the statue.
He added that this is not an April Fool's Day joke.
Mr Yeates said: "For some people, this is just part of their tourist experience. For other people, it seems inappropriate, particularly where the statue is being touched and, for some people, that's quite a serious issue. And to be honest, I'm inclined to agree.
"It's the mimicking of behaviour which we wouldn't approve of. So we're going to try and do this, have a conversation with the great tourists that come around here throughout the summer, and see can we affect a change in behaviour?"
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Cost of monitoring statue to be 'relatively low'
The cost of hiring people to patrol the statue will cost "a couple of thousand" euro, according to Mr Yeates, but this will be less than the six figure sum that would be required to raise the height of the plinth.
"I think it's probably trying to come up with a fairly straightforward approach to what's a complicated question. We don't want anybody to be touching works of art.
"The O'Connell Monument, for example, or lots of other monuments, we don't want them touched. The protective covering has been rubbed away from the bronze over the years so we will have to repaint this regularly, which is a cost.
"We have some long-term safety issues to look at here. People standing up causes it to vibrate a little bit and may be moving the statue. It's perfectly safe right now, because an engineer has looked at it."
Mr Yeates said that once a tradition begins it can be hard to reverse it and "we all find it difficult to change behaviour if we've developed habits.
"The real radical thing will be to move this statue indoors. I don't think we want to do that and I don't want to surrender the idea that we can take care of a piece of public art, even if it is particularly accessible."
Dublin City Historian in Residence Catherine Scuffil said the statue deserves more respect, adding there is increasing evidence that Molly Malone was not just a character in the famous song but a real person from The Liberties area of the city.
"Maybe it's a good idea, because poor Molly doesn't deserve it. Think for a minute what she represents to us. She's an image of our city. She represents the people of our city, but more importantly, she represents the women of our city. So maybe we shouldn't be treating her quite the way we are at the moment.
"Molly means a lot to a lot of people. We always use Molly Malone as our anthem, as our slogan, as our story. So she represents all of those things. A woman, independent means, her own trade, working in the city, you know, we should respect her a bit more."
Ms Scuffil, who is related to the statue's sculptor Jeanne Rynhart, said the 'groping' is not what he would have intended for the piece.
She said the artist based the figure's low neckline on the fashion of the time.
"My father's cousin was the sculptor. Jean passed away in the last few years and I would say she's doing a little spin, because that's certainly not what she intended when she made the statue."
Elliot Ioannou, from England, posed as his girlfriend Emily Sheldrake took a picture of him touching Molly Malone's breast.
"My boss's wife, she's from Limerick, and she was the one that's what said, when you come here, you've got a give a good old rub for luck. So yeah, just thought I'd come here and give it a good old crack."
Asked what he thought of the council's plans to ask tourists not to touch the statue, Mr Ioannou said: "If it's a traditional thing, you should keep it, especially if it's for tourism, part of your heritage, you should keep it. Why the hell not?"
