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ALL IRISH PEOPLE are well familiar with Molly Malone and her ample bosom. In fact, she’s a national treasure.

However, Facebook recently decided that a book cover featuring the famed statue on the cover was in breach of its community standards regarding nudity.

Author Frank Whelan attempted to book ads on Facebook to promote his novel, Diary of the Wolf, only to be informed that Facebook had banned his ads for being “too sexy”.

According to Facebook’s community standards, the website bans “some images of female breasts if they include the nipple”.  They also state that they “allow photographs of paintings, sculptures, and other art that depicts nude figures”.

So why did they pick on poor Molly Malone?

Speaking to Ray D’Arcy on RTÉ Radio 1 yesterday, Whelan explained that the ad was initially taken down as Facebook mistook it for a dating site.

However, after clarifying that the ad was for a book on Amazon, Facebook still removed the ad.

Then they got back to me and said the image was overly sexual and suggested nudity, and showed a lot of skin or cleavage.

Whelan explained to Facebookk that it was a public image and that thousands of people walked by the Molly Malone statue, but they refused to budge.

I’m sure there’s thousands and thousands of photos of Molly Malone on Facebook.

D’Arcy went on to note that Facebook hosts a fan page called Molly Malone Has Fantastic Breasts.

Ray D’Arcy also spoke to Jean Reinhardt, who sculpted the statue in 1988, and she explained that Malone’s breasts were probably a direct result of her occupation.

She pushed a barrel all day, every day. Can you imagine that for exercise and what it would do for her pectoral muscles?

Indeed.

Whelan described Facebook’s descision as “completely surprising” and “frustrating”.

Facebook have since apologised for removing the ad and a spokesperson for Facebook admitted to DailyEdge.ie that they had “made a mistake”.

Our rules around nudity are in place to reflect the wide range of people on Facebook. We always aim to strike a balance between artistic expression and making sure our global community feels comfortable. In reviewing this we made a mistake and quickly restored the advert once it was brought to our attention. We apologise for any inconvenience we caused.

Whelan noted on The Ray D’Arcy Show that, as of yesterday, he had yet to see the ad restored on Facebook.

So, Shaquille O’Neal seems to think that Irish people are pirates…

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