There was an old documentary in the late nineteen seventies which propunded the theory that it came to Ireland from North Africa, as it was found on the west coast where you also find a lot of blood type groups related to the Burber coarsairs who used to find a lot of reera on the west coast of Ireland. Like Liam's brother, I first saw a Bodhran in the hands of Brian Herron, (the grand son of James Connolly - son of Nora Herron...) though I don't think he actually invented it, rather, Brian, who I still see every once and awhile, when he strays from Nova Scotia, would be the first to say, that he likely mastered it as a tool of social change - population control and mass indoctrineation.

Cheers
Larry