Thanks a lot.

No, they never managed to bring in conscription in Ireland. Opposition to attempts to bring it in was a big organising issue for the Republicans in the latter half of the Great War.

I am sure this would have been sung around that time - especially with the lines

"There's never a one will handle a gun
Except for the green in Tipperary boys.

But the words, especially the second link, imply that it would have been older than that.