An “Irish Buddhist” was often presented in old newspapers as an oxymoron, but our research (with Alicia Turner, Yoshinaga Shin’ichi and others) on the unexpectedly long history of Buddhism and Ireland has unearthed some fascinating dimensions in the broader study of religions and Ireland. Stepping beyond traditional discourses, we have found Irish Buddhists involved in Asian religious change, migrants bringing new religions to Ireland and people in Ireland rejecting the Catholic/Protestant binary. We have also found the first (1889) Buddhist mission to Europe (London) and a forgotten early 1900s Irish Buddhist challenge to colonial missionary Christianity in South & Southeast Asia. Our research has driven us to explore new methods – in particular using digital humanities to reconstruct forgotten figures and fostering developing scholarly networks to study translocal lives. This chapter situates our own discoveries among expanding new research initiatives on Ireland and religions, and highlights the significance of these research projects for the academic study of religions throughout the island of Ireland and beyond.