HiIt was perfectly normal to take a lump of turf to school to put on the fire, (it's pretty cold in Ireland in the winter,........and for that matter most of the time!!!) Just the same as all you Americans would have taken an apple for the teacher. (Or are THe Waltons and Little House on the Prairies not quite accurate??)
The words at the start of the chorus are
Ban-ya na mo if an gan-na, and the juice of the barley for me.
as far as I know they are just gibberish
Slainte
alison