Because this is sounding a bit harsh, on second thoughts, I will provide an explanation:
Attachment 165435
This is a picture of a sunlit cloud behind a tree I just took out of my office window. I now declare that cloud to be
my cloud, I recorded it (photo = recording) and hereby copyright it (not just the photo, no, the cloud itself). You may not take any photo of this cloud yourself unless you pay royalties to me. Ridiculous you'd say? And you'd be right to say that.
Irish tunes are just clouds drifting by the heads of people. People can make recordings of them and own the recordings, but they cannot own the tunes. The attempt is like Trying to Catch the Wind (ouch! copyrighted again!)