Oh my God I've been searching for this song on the net forever, this is the first time it has come up. I only ever heard it on the vinyl album of "The Irish Beggarmen" that they recorded in the 60s or 70s, and have never heard it since. I've always wanted to know who wrote it because I wanted to perform and record it myself, and can never find it anywhere. The Beggarmen album was made before there were ever any song credits printed on albums, and to track down any of the members to ask them is a herculean task. I'm starting to think it's an old traditional with no known author. But who knows?