michaelr, you hit the nail on the head.

I believe these threads--never begun by Irish posters, mind--are a form of anti-Irish bigotry, just as the "Irish weren't Celts" sorts of threads are. You never would see this sort of thread about any other nationality in the folk scene, and these threads certainly have more than wee bit of Brit triumphalism to them, don't they?

I do put that down to jealousy. The Irish have a strong, vital LIVING folk music tradition, not just a hobby/museum tradition like the Brits and Americans and most other Europeans have.