When we were last in Ireland we got chatting to a man in a pub (a very rare sight - a man in a pub in Ireland) and he told us that it's about 'the troubles' and pro-IRA. He seemed to think that the joke is on the English as we enjoy it without realising the deeper significance, like so many of the songs that Christy Moore sings. According to him, Jimmy MacCarthy's comments are there to pull the wool over our eyes. Bearing in mind Christy's liking for singing songs with a hidden political meaning, this wouldn't surprise me at all.