I don't think that anyone at all has suggested that Ireland doesn't have a long history of drumming; like almost every other country in the world, it presumably has. The issue has really been whether or not there is any basis for thinking that the bodhran has been a significant part of it. So much romantic twaddle has been spread about on the subject in recent years that a cautious approach is by far the wisest. The spelling of tympanum, tiompan and so on is irrelevant (as is whisk[e]y!); what matters in the context of what you wrote is what Giraldus meant by it.

Of course, there may be genuine information out there, and it would be interesting to hear more about what Janet E. McCrickard has to say. She appears to be a "New Age" writer, though, which doesn't immediately inspire confidence. Perhaps we will be pleasantly surprised.