Don't forget that a lot of these tunes have been pinched from the Irish in the first place! -ie., I understand that most of the sea shanties were adapted from Irish jigs. Even Scotland the Brave has a gaelic title in Ireland! And the Irish have been creating music for an awfully long time: Gerald of Wales, who WAS anti-Irish, highly praised their music in the 1100's! The Irish have been behind much of the development of modern popular music(eg, Foster in the USA)and many of the members of British pop bands are of Irish descent(ie. the Beatles, Culture Club, Oasis, etc.).