IRELAND AND THE SPANISH CIVIL WAR

In the Irish Republic, the post-Spanish Civil War period was a time when, from what I have read, popular sympathy was generally hostile to the Irish volunteers who had fought against Franco. This will have created a restricted audience for any type of song which favoured the Spanish Republic or those who supported it. Ireland did not have widespread folk clubs such as developed in the UK in the sixties where left wing songs generally received a sympathetic hearing. Recently I have noticed a warm reception for Spanish Civil War songs amongst Irish people - but my experience is very limited and perhaps rather unrepresentative. Could anyone describe the places where Spanish Civil War songs were performed from 1939 up to the present time and what sort of audience there was for such songs? Perhaps they were not performed and have only been discovered recently?

Regards, Geoff