Tom Munnelly was born in Rathmines in Dublin, and went to Clogher Road Technical College.
Christy Moore in the magazine "Swing 51" (1989) recalled that "British folklorists ... wouldn't accept that it was genuine.
In 1972, Munnelly played the tape to Christy Moore who subsequently performed it on Planxty's album "The Well Below The Valley".
[2] In 1970, he founded the Cumann Cheoil Tíre Éireann (the Folk Music Society of Ireland) together with Breandán Breathnach.
His collection started appearing in commercially available form: "Paddy's Panacea" (Topic, 1978) and "Mount Callan Garland" (1994, but recorded 1984).
On 19 June 2007, he received an honorary doctorate from the National University of Ireland, Galway for services to Irish traditional music.