Yes Martin , but weren't many of such songs allegorical in a way, like "Dark Rosaleen"?
There would have been an "alternative" forum of political comment going on also surely. Such would, of necessity, have had to be "disguised" in some way, in most cases, to protect those involved? There is still a, mostly rural, tradition in Ireland of composing narrative songs and poems (most of them in a doggerel form unfortunately. I find it difficult to think that this is a "newer" development given the Irish delight in "Searabhus" (Hope I've spelled it correctly ?) going back into the cultural past ?