I'll stop drifting to other topics now, I promise.

I don't know much about Irish Language songs, but I'll be looking forward to Hugh Shield's article or anything else on the subject.
I'm always eager to learn something new, and Irish and Scots singing is a topic I've completely ignored so far.

I also didn't know that ballads were mostly unknown Irish and Scots Gaelic culture. I guess I just blindly assumed that they'd exist in pretty much any European language.