Whichever way they are judged, the idea of competitions is detrimental to the music. Competitions are for winners; they do nothing for those who just wish to play music for the love of it. If, as you say, one person has the sole decision in what is 'the best' this is even further proof of this. While everybody has a right to an opinion, nobody should have final say - this is what MacColl was often accused of (wrongly).
Comhaltas, by adopting the competition ethic, has produced a set of rules in order to decide what is good and what is bad. This has led to what I have often heard referred to (particularly by older musicians) as 'Comhaltas players'.
It has produced a form of dancing which has nothing to do with the tradition - a natural fore-runner to Riverdance (Riverdance was listed by Labhras O Murchu as a great achievement in his 1999 report).
The singing favoured by CCE is more akin to Victorian parlour singing than the traditional styles, and when they refer to 'the ballads' they are invariably talking about the 'parlour ballads' (I've had discussions with their members on a dozen occasions on this subject).
Their dancers are expected to dress up in pseudo medieval costume and this 'Darby O'Gillism' is extended to singers and musicians who often appear in the pages of their magazine in Georgian dress. All this has nothing whatever to do with the performance of traditional music, let alone making it relevent to the 21st century.
There is no doubt whatever that Comhaltas members (and others) kept traditional music alive during the decline, but somewhere along the way their leaders dropped the ball. Nowadays their activities are represented almost entitely by the Fleadhs, large, uncomfortable festivals which have little impact on the music as a whole. The modern upsurge in Irish music is taking place without Comhaltas, and in some cases, in spite of them.

Jim Carroll