Bukowski had never visited Ireland, but there's an Irish connection of a kind: Sean Penn was his long-time friend and admirer.
Of course, there's also Bono*, who worshipped Bukowski and collected his stuff.
Sean Penn was once with Bono in his house in Ireland and Bono was delighted that Penn turned out to be Buk's buddy. Sean Penn then made a phone call in order to introduce Bono; Linda Lee (who was a huge fan of U2) answered it and told Buk it was Bono.
"Who's Bono?" - quipped Bukowski.
*there's always Bono in every story