Frank Harte in his collection "Songs of Dublin" (2nd Ed. 1993)says of this:

" The first person I ever heard singing it was Dominic Behan, who says he got some of it from Sean O'Casey and the rest from a woman in England. Whenever I ask anybody I hear singing it, the source is inevitably traced back to Dominic."

Dominic, as they say, "often said more than his prayers" - but the above has a ring of truth about it, to me.

Regards