"The other motivation for asking this Q is that I'm on the lookout for 'new' material in this area"
Plenty os singable ballads to be had if you look around and if you aer prepared to adapt them (not comfortable with singing in a strange accent)
Ireland was thought to be fairly thin on the ground regarding ballads, but collector, the late Tom Munnelly, listed fifty of them still to be found sung by elderly singers here right up to the end of the 90s, many of them having disappeared completely from elsewhere
Albums like the recently re-released 'Early Ballads in Ireland' include some gems; Johnny Scott, Dewy Dens of Yarrow, Lord Levett, Demon Lover, Lord O'Bore )Prince Robert), The Suffolk Miracle....
Up to twenty years ago you couldn't throw a stone without hitting a singer who sand Katherine Jaffrey, Lord Bateman or The Keach in the Creel.
One of the most exquisite examples of ballad singing I've ever heard 0can be heard on the album, 'Songs of the Irish Travellers; Lady Margaret, (Young Hunting), sung by Rosommon traveller, Martin McDonagh - the album also includes a very full version of Lamkin.
Last year we recorded a local man aged 94 who gave us 6 full Child Ballads, including Lord Bateman and Katherine Jaffray.
The Musical Traditions from of Ewan and Peggy's field recordings, 'Songs of the English and Scottish Travellers are well worth the asking price.      
I'm always happy to pass on anything we have here`if anybody is looking for new old material.
A couple of years ago, County Wexford couple Aileen Lambert and Michael Fortune embarked on a project in conjunction with Tha National Library of Ireland, Man, 'Woman and Child'0, where they assembled a number of singers, mostly totally unused to singing ballads and staged lunchtime concerts of ballad singing in various venues in Ireland
The project was a great success and it has had a considerable effect on ballad singing here.
It was very gratifying to hear good Irish singers tackling a new genre of song (Irish song nowadays tends to be lyrical rather than narrative, though it certainly wasn't always like that)
Jim Carroll