Dublin mitra and academic Dr Laurence Cox is researching the life of the Irishman Dhammaloka (Laurence Carroll) who, he believes, has a strong claim to be the first Westerner to be ordained a Buddhist monk, preceding the ordination of Ananda Metteya by a few years.
Read the BBC article.
Find out more about the Dhammaloka Project.
See Dr Cox's book, Buddhism and Ireland: from the Celts to Counter-culture and Beyond.