This isn't the first time Nic Jones has had songs or arrangements ripped off by other artists with (as far as I am aware) no acknowledgement or reward. Mary Black blagged 'Annachie Gordon' and 'Rose of Allendale' off him, Christy Moore pinched his arrangement of 'Little Musgrave' and Andy Irvine's 'Patrick Street' is a pretty obvious adaptation of 'Barrack Street' from 'Penguin Eggs'.

Now, I probably should be careful here and say that there may have been some acknowledgement by at least some of the artists concerned and of course, we don't always know where Jonesy pinched them from himself. What I would say, though, is that a lot of people who lazily assume these are 'Irish' songs haven't taken the trouble to find out where they came from - certainly this would be true of many second-rate bands who have performed or recorded these songs subsequently.