I was reading the Wikipedia page on Irish phonology and it said that some native Irish speakers / dialects (it said that it can vary from speaker to speaker within an area) use bilabial fricatives where we would usually be taught to use labiodental fricatives. Is this a case of English fs and vs replacing Irish βs and ɸs? Were these sounds common until relatively recently? I suppose if the native speakers are mostly using the f and v sounds, then those are correct but this is something that nearly went under my radar. Has anyone on here ever met, or been, a native Irish speaker who uses those sounds?

Yes in all the dialects, as far as I now, it is relatively recent change under influence from English. I have met speakers who use the purely labial versions.

For anybody reading, traditionally in Irish you made f and v only with your lips, without your teeth.

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The dialect I use is Cork Irish.
Ar sgáth a chéile a mhairid na daoine, lag agus láidir, uasal is íseal

I was taught them in Coleraine University (my teacher learnt Irish in Rann na Feirste with old speakers ; that teacher was old himself, and attached much importance to native-like pronunciation, so he can't have invented all that). However, I mostly heard people using the labiodental sounds. But most of the time, speakers speak too quickly so you couldn't distinguish if these sounds are labiodental or bilabial...
I'd need to listen to John Ghráinne, for instance. I think that kind of speaker would use the oldest sounds

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Is fearr Gaeilg na Gaeltaċta ná Gaeilg ar biṫ eile
Agus is í Gaeilg Ġaoṫ Doḃair is binne

Old speakers without teeth have no choice: They must make bilabial sounds ...

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Haha. The dialect books of the 20th century make a few remarks about those who use labio-dental sounds, including in Cois Fhairrige, one lad whose teeth were somewhat prominent, so slender bi-labials since they would have drawn more attention to his mouth, were generally substituted.

However, those with teeth still articulated bi-labially, and besides, systematically, they would be needed, as with only an English f or v, broad/slender starts to break down.

Personally, to my ear, any English sounds sound weird in Irish. Someone from England would not have native-Irish sounds to their English, so why put them in Irish?

I also once read something about f being bi-labial in Spanish once, until merchants in the 14th century from France, who settled there, as a wealth middle class, brought a labio-dental articulation and it became the norm, but I don't know about that

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__̴ı̴̴̡̡̡ ̡͌l̡̡̡ ̡͌l̡*̡̡ ̴̡ı̴̴̡ ̡̡͡|̲̲̲͡͡͡ ̲▫̲͡ ̲̲̲͡͡π̲̲͡͡ ̲̲͡▫̲̲͡͡ ̲|̡̡̡ ̡ ̴̡ı̴̡̡ ̡͌l̡̡̡̡.___

https://books.google.ie/books?id=Zjcrhy ... 0f&f=false

The above states it might have been contact with Rome (Latin) that caused the shift, which is more likely

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__̴ı̴̴̡̡̡ ̡͌l̡̡̡ ̡͌l̡*̡̡ ̴̡ı̴̴̡ ̡̡͡|̲̲̲͡͡͡ ̲▫̲͡ ̲̲̲͡͡π̲̲͡͡ ̲̲͡▫̲̲͡͡ ̲|̡̡̡ ̡ ̴̡ı̴̡̡ ̡͌l̡̡̡̡.___

Oh, I see. Further down the page, they repeat the Frenchmen story...

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__̴ı̴̴̡̡̡ ̡͌l̡̡̡ ̡͌l̡*̡̡ ̴̡ı̴̴̡ ̡̡͡|̲̲̲͡͡͡ ̲▫̲͡ ̲̲̲͡͡π̲̲͡͡ ̲̲͡▫̲̲͡͡ ̲|̡̡̡ ̡ ̴̡ı̴̡̡ ̡͌l̡̡̡̡.___

When the letter 'f' is used in Irish, does that refer to the labiodental fricative or the bilabial fricative? I mean, would the initial consonants in 'féile' and 'phictiúrlann' be pronounced differently?

No, it's the same sound, the same phoneme /f'/ no matter how you spell it. Just as initial mh and bh are pronounced the same way, etc.

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Is fearr Gaeilg na Gaeltaċta ná Gaeilg ar biṫ eile
Agus is í Gaeilg Ġaoṫ Doḃair is binne