These people don't seem to understand that folk music existed long before the revival, or coffee houses for that matter.
The bothy ballad tradition goes back to the beginning of the nineteenth century, the Gaelic traditions goes back millennia
I remember concerts in our little village where the singing was all Gaelic and the audience all new how to sing along even those to whom Gaelic was a second language.
How many songwriters in Scotland today can come anywhere near to Burns Jacob, Tannahill or Henderson....old hat, dinosaurs, not a patch on Dylan or Bowie?
With the honourable exception of Davie or perhaps Dougie Mclean with his "Indigenous" CD

The Irish seem to have preserved their musical and dance traditions much better than Scotland, England or Wales....and I am sure that this is because they have been taught their own history and have a real pride in their nation.