An iconic photo of a local councillor being forced to see his new born grandson through a window during lockdown has come to global attention after being used on a hit Netflix series.
The shot of Michael Gallagher from Drumconrath in county Meath gazing adoringly at his daughter Emmas baby Faolán appears on The Light We Carry a documentary
featuring former US first lady Michelle Obama reflecting on the pandemic in an interview with TV superstar Oprah Winfrey.
So far the show has been watched by over 190 million viewers.
Michael, a Sinn Féin councillor revealed he was completely shocked when he first heard the news.
pic supplied by Michael Gallagher
‘I wouldn’t be a Netflix type of man and the first I heard about it was when someone rang and told me.
‘It is not the first taste of stardom Faolán and I have had through that snap, it was on the Dr Phil show in the States, where Netflix apparently spotted it, and Dove, the soap people also used it in an advertisement over there.
‘Still and all when I heard 190 million had seen it this time I was blown away it is a staggering figure but with the two women who are involved it didn’t surprise me.
‘The picture was taken back in 2020 after Faolán was born in Drogheda’s Lourdes Hospital and for the first three months of his life the closest I could get to him was to look in the window and see him.
‘His parents were told they had to boil wash every stitch of clothes they wore in the hospital and that they had to isolate, the public health nurse was the only other person allowed in the house.
‘They were very strange times and when I eventually got to hold him it was quite emotional.
‘He’s three now and about to start playschool when he saw the picture on the television he was delighted with himself.’
