Shortly after its unveiling, Ireland’s National Wax Museum said it was pulling the wax figure and launching a new project to “create a more accurate representation”.
Paddy Dunning, the museum’s director and a close friend of O’Connor, said their team “can do better” to honour the singer’s memory.
“I didn’t sleep last night,” he told Liveline. “We’ll go again and we’ll remodel and we have to do better.”
The model, he said, had not gone through the normal approval channels. He apologised for the upset the artwork had caused, especially to the singer’s friends.
Dunning acknowledged the model had been rushed to ensure it was ready to be unveiled on the first anniversary of O’Connor’s death.
The singer was found unresponsive at her home in south London last year. She was 56.
Her wax recreation was artist PJ Heraty’s last sculpture for the museum before his retirement.
He has created wax figures depicting the likes of Gerry Adams, the former Sinn Fein leader, and Bono, the U2 frontman.
Heraty also said he could “do better”.
A spokesman for the museum said: “In response to the public’s feedback regarding the wax figure, we acknowledge that the current representation did not meet our high standards or the expectations of Sinead’s devoted fans.
“We have listened closely to the reactions and agree that the figure does not fully capture Sinead’s unique presence and essence as we intended.”
