IF THERE’S ONE thing we’ll remember February 2017 for, it’s Pint Baby.
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A short clip of a small baby supping from a pint of Guinness in an Irish pub went viral over the weekend after being spotted in an RTÉ archives clip. Within hours, the somewhat bizarre image of the child clutching a pint of the black stuff had people wondering: who is the real Pint Baby?
It turns out he’s a 20-year-old named Stephen Barron, from Prosperous, Co Kildare – and his mum Caroline insists that pint-supping wasn’t a regular thing for him.
RTÉ’s Cian McCormack caught up with the pair at their home to find out their reaction to the Pint Baby phenomenon, and whether Stephen minds his new moniker.
Caroline explained why the pair were filmed in the first place:
“There was filming going on in Daly’s pub in Ennistymon, Nationwide were there to talk to Willie Daly the matchmaker, and we were there and there was great fun and atmosphere and craic going on.”
As to how her baby son ended up drinking a pint? “Stephen was sitting on my knee and took a shine to a pint of Guinness and had a drop out of it,” she said.
Stephen himself suggested that he’s not the only Pint Baby out there. “I suppose everyone can relate to it, I’m sure I’m not the only one, I’m just the only that got filmed doing it,” he said of the clip.
The 20-year-old hopes to become a blacksmith, but it looks like he won’t be cashing in on his Pint Baby name anytime soon.
“I don’t really mind – but I’d rather be called Stephen now than Pint Baby,” he said.
While it goes without saying that doctors don’t advise parents to feed their young children alcohol, Caroline said that she doesn’t feel differently about the clip 20 years on.
“God I don’t look at it differently at all, it was only a drop of Guinness and there were plenty of parents even to this day who will dip a doodie in a pint of Guinness,” she said.
There is no harm in it, he’s fine, he’s turned out perfectly fine and healthy and happy, there’s no bother on him at all. It wasn’t an everyday occurrence or a weekly occurrence or anything, it was just the situation we were in at the time and he had a drop and a camera happened to be there at the time.
As for the fact the clip went viral, she said that she’s had comments from other people saying “ah sure we were all reared like that”.
“There’s a lot of commenting on it and it was the last thing we were expecting to come to the door,” she added, saying that she’s not worried the underage drinking had any effect on her son.
“I have a great young lad and he’s a good young man and he’s mannerly and outgoing and happy out, and there’s not a bother on him.”
The full interview with Stephen and Caroline Barron will be broadcast on this evening’s Six One News on RTÉ.
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