whether one form is music better than another is an opinion an no amount of rational argument will solve that one. The issues of continuity and revival are ones for the historians, but my limited knowledge suggests that England has a longer history in terms of preserving records of what had been an oral tradition, for far longer than any Irish attempts to do so.
Middle class values do seem to permeate the folk scene, good thing too otherwise many of us would get booed off stage rather than the polite clap of hands which is the norm.