Edith Fowke wrote that "The reference to 'Her Majesty' in the last stanza indicates that this ballad must have been composed between 1837 when Queen Victoria came to the British throne and 1847 when O'Connell died - but it is hard to understand why an Irish patriot would have been so anxious to raise men bor a British sovereign."

It is no puzzle to me, given the satirical nature of the song. Children by Steam has always reminded me of Jonathan Swift's "Modest Proposal" to relieve hunger and poverty by eating Irish children. http://art-bin.com/art/omodest.html