Accents can mean a great deal to some people, and it's little use protesting that you were actually born somewhere unrelated to the accent. An "English" accent of any description can arouse hostility in certain circles in Ireland, no matter what the actual background or political views of the speaker.

I think a recurrent issue in these posts is whether the socio-political content of the song is current or now regarded as largely historical. Where there are sensitive issues that are not yet resolved (land boundaries, sovereignty, religious freedom, equal rights for women or for minorities, animal rights, industrial relations, etc), most singers need to be able to either:
A) Accept the values stated or implied in the song, or
B) Distance themselves from the values on the grounds that the song belongs to another time when things were done differently.

Referring back to the original post, it may prove tricky if you're making music with others and you realise that they are opting for A) above, while you can only feel comfortable if B) applies. Or vice versa.

And Ireland is of course a special case because it takes some Irish an awfully long time to regard anything as being only of historic interest. Tread softly, because you tread on their dreams ....

Marje