Malachy Kearns is in the middle of talking to me about a lunch the previous day which was attended by the governor of California, Mr Gray Davis, when he has to excuse himself politely for 20 minutes. A Japanese film crew is making a documentary about the bodhran, and Mr Kearns, whose business now makes over 30,000 bodhrans a year, is the star of the show.

He is comfortable in front of the camera having starred this year in an Eircom Eireann advert explaining the gains his business had made by placing itself on the Internet. When Mr Kearns set up his site bodhran.com more than four years ago, the now familiar buzzword, e-commerce, was rarely heard. However, this small bodhran-making business in Roundstone, Co Galway, took the technological initiative.

Mr Kearns had become familiar with people using the Internet during his regular visits to music trade fairs in the US. He was quick to see the potential it offered to market his product all over the world, while saving himself the physical and emotional burden of constantly leaving his idyllic Connemara. "I was starting to cave in from the stress of travelling," says Mr Kearns. "The local people in the village started calling me Malachy Kissinger because I was always away. I got the idea that the Internet is not expensive, that it is not for geniuses and that the average person can make it work."

So in 1995 he decided to divert 60 per cent of his marketing budget into developing a website which would allow bodhran buyers all over the world to order his products from their desktops. With no computer knowledge himself, he relied on the know-how of Colm McGettrick from the University of Limerick who specialised in developing music websites.

Mr Kearns also needed someone to work for him full-time to maintain the site, and found it difficult to tempt an IT professional to move to the west of Ireland. His saving grace came in the form of Neil McKay, a Scottish IT specialist who had holidayed in the area for many years.

"It was tricky to get someone of that calibre," says Mr Kearns. "The advantage I had was that he loved the fishing, and who wouldn't want to live in a beautiful place where you can leave work, and be fishing five minutes later."

The site itself is well-designed and has won several awards, including a recent three-shamrock rating by Doras, the Irish Internet directory. It includes the all-important online order form and offers an insight into the history of the bodhran and the lengthy process involved in making one. There is a tutorial to help you learn your first few rhythms, and Mr Kearns hopes to develop the site further using audio and video downloads.

Mr Kearns admits that at first he was slightly suspicious of the sort of clientele he thought might use the website.

"I had this very arrogant idea that people using the Internet think too much," he says, "and they would be looking for information all the time rather than doing or buying. But boy was I proven wrong, the nicest people I've ever connected with are through the Internet: they're no trouble, they're clear about what they are ordering, and they research it in their own time and not mine."

The company currently gets about 18 per cent of its turnover from the Internet. Mr Kearns reckons they may have got 10 per cent of that trade anyway, but this is a much easier way of doing business. In the quieter winter months 3040 per cent of orders are over the Internet, which helps spread the production workload more evenly throughout the year.

The company targets the Thanksgiving and St Patrick's day gift markets in the US, where the large Irish-American community is a major client source. Mr Kearns is keen to play down the so-called Riverdance effect on the revival of interest in Irish culture and music, but admits that the global interest in all things Irish has been good for business. The factory and shop now employ 14 full-time staff with a further 10 seasonal workers. They supply bodhrans to as far afield as Japan, Australia, and South America. His two full-time packers keep Roundstone's small post office busy with a constant supply of their custom-made boxes to carry the bodhrans safely around the globe. In normal circumstances delivery will be made within the week, although in special circumstances Mr Kearns has had to react even quicker.

Readers of this paper's business pages may remember a photograph of the chairman of the New York Stock Exchange, Mr Richard Grasso, proudly brandishing a custom-made bodhran in the days coming up to the Telecom Eireann flotation.

Mr Kearns recalls that he was rung on a Monday morning by a panicked Telecom publicity team which was trying to dream up a gift for Mr Grasso. "I mean, what do you give to the man who has everything," says Mr Kearns laughing. Within 24 hours a bodhran was in New York, hand-painted with the Telecom logo and a Celtic design by artist Ann Kearns who designs the artwork for the company. Selling bodhrans to companies for use as corporate gifts has continued as a lucrative part of Mr Kearns's business.

Recently, Compaq, Bord Bia and Glen Dimplex have all commissioned bodhrans with their own logos integrated into the artwork as gifts for valued customers and employees.

The picture of the handover of the Telecom Eireann bodhran is one of many that adorn the walls of the factory shop. Other well-known recipients of a Malachy Kearns bodhran include Gay Byrne, former President Mrs Mary Robinson, and former US president Mr Gerald Ford. Christy Moore is also a customer. A photograph signed by Moore on the wall reads: "I kneel in prayer towards Roundstone." Praise indeed.

The bodhran.com website is being recommended by the IDA and Enterprise Ireland as a good example of how a small business can utilise the Internet to help its business. It will be featured as a case study on a new website soon to be launched by Enterprise Ireland which will be a wide-ranging resource for people involved in e-commerce in Ireland.

Mr Kearns is proud that the IDA, on whose site his factory is built, recently invited him to address a small business conference on how to make use of the Internet. "I remember when I walked into that conference and everyone was waiting for me, and they were all interested in what I had to say."

Recalling the fact that 10 years ago his business was only just managing to survive, Mr Kearns advises that people don't spend forever looking for someone else to give them a good marketing idea, but instead just go ahead and follow their instincts.

"Seven or eight years ago I had these innocent ideas - pay this, invest in that, then do this - that business would get easier but it just wasn't happening. I was beginning to go over the top until the Internet came along and it made my whole life so much easier."

His major problem now is finding new responsible staff whom he can gradually start to delegate some of the day-to-day running of the business to. He looks forward to a time not too far away when he can perhaps work only two or three days a week, and spend the rest of his time enjoying the Irish music and traditions on which he has based his own business success.

The website of Roundstone Musical Instruments can be found at www.bodhran.com