I meant to respond to this thread a few days ago but my computer went belly up. It is now fixed. I believe that the main reason people assume some songs are Irish is because the Irish may be the only ones taking the trouble to sing them. It's the old adage " USE IT OR LOSE IT",. I guarantee that if one was to poll 100 people on any street in Dublin, Belfast, Derry, Galway or anywhere in Ireland , at least 95% of those polled could sing up to 10 to 20 folk songs apiece as well as name 10 or more folk groups and/or singers. The same would not be true in London, Manchester or most cities in England. Scotland would fare a little better with the Corries known to most of them. Welsh folk songs would be more popular outside of Wales if someone would take the trouble of translating them and recording them. Music and singing is more than a hobby in Ireland, it is part of the fibre of the Irish people. We sing and play songs from all over the world, and if no one else is doing this to the same extent, then it stands to reason that the uninformed will assume that the song is Irish. Please make every effort to correct this and please take Danny Boy back, along with Kathleen.

It would be a great help if more English radio stations played the folk songs from the vast treasury of english folk songs available. Unfortunately this is not the case. One or two weekly radio slots dedicated to folk music is not enough to get the nmessage across to the general public that they have a great folk song tradition that has died out in many of the large populated regions, all being replaced by Rock, etc.