Each group has a unique range of what they count as part of their Irish Identity.
The Dropkick Murphys conception of it means to be Irish is perhaps the most modern of them all. As members of the diaspora, their interactions with Irish identity are most recently formed, and include ideas of global oppression absent in the other two groups’ content. In many ways they embody a conception most closely embodied by those involved in the Troubles of the late 20th century. One such figure from the era who embodies this shared ethos is Bernadette Devlin, a pro-unification Northern Irish MP known for punching one of her political opponents in the face, discussed her disappointment with the U.S.-Irish diaspora by noting:
My people’—the people who knew about oppression, discrimination, prejudice, poverty and the frustration and despair that they produce– were not Irish Americans. They were black, Puerto Ricans, Chicanos. And those who were supposed to be ‘my people’, the Irish Americans who knew about English misrule and the Famine and supported the civil rights movement at home, and knew that Partition and England were the cause of the problem, looked and sounded to me like Orangemen. They said exactly the same things about blacks that the loyalists said about us at home.
The Dropkicks invoke a similarly gruff disdain for oppressive forces. Aside from demonstrations of solidarity for workers, they have played shows for Anti Racist Action and Unity Fest, both creations out of the anti-racist skinhead community. Though they flirt with the skinhead label, their actions demonstrate a clear message– “Neo-Nazis are not welcome at Dropkick Murphys concerts!”
The Dubliners, in accordance with their era, encompass most wide-ranging tropes of the Folk Revival. Their wide range in subject matter and lack of original songs placed them outside of any specifically Irish tradition, and their avoidance of more outwardly hostile rebel songs (at least in English) places them firmly in the tradition of American acts like early Joan Baez and The Kingston Trio. Their apoliticality was no accident; it allowed them to acquire an audience across the world, including in the country the Wolfe Tones explicitly rebelled against.
The Wolfe Tones, out of all the groups, had the most overtly political agenda, as well as the most blatantly nationalistic. While of the same era of dissent as Bernadette Devlin, their focus is exclusively inwards, toward an Irish audience. Whether producing entirely Irish-language albums or songs about the diaspora “Irishness” as an identity is the central focus, over any other concerns.