All I can say folks is BOLLOCKS.. sorry but music is there to be played/sung and enjoyed.. If it offends anyone in the process then tough shit. So a piece was written a hundred years or so ago and now doesn't fit into our "political" way of thinking.. so what.. It had meaning when it was written and it should have meaning to us now, no matter how trivial/urbane the sentiments may seem to us. Folk songs are as mush a part of history as digging up old bones. They are a part of what we are today.
Being English and to answer Ian Kirk (yes indeed a pomm i.e. not descended from an old convict), I have a devoted love of Irish music. I play/sing all the songs that purport (and some indeed do) describe how my country has kept the Irish under the thumb. I might be tempted to "alter/abridge/political correct" some of the lyrics but I don't.. it wouldn't be right. I am voicing the sentiments of the person who wrote the song and that is what is important, not what I feel, not what the audience may feel.. especially any prats who may be sitting amongst them..
Keep folk music alive.. it's what made us what we are today... God forgive it..
Mick