The article highlights a compelling tension between possibility and proof: Castlepook’s marked reindeer femur may reflect a fleeting encounter, while Derryvree and cave fauna demonstrate only locally favourable, changing environments rather than a settled population. This makes Ireland’s pre-Last Glacial Maximum past seem less like a missing national story than a fragmented record shaped by movement, preservation and later ice. Comparisons with evidence at Alice and Gwendoline Cave sharpen the contrast between an isolated clue and established activity. What kinds of taphonomic, genetic or landscape evidence would help distinguish a visit from repeated use of Ice Age Ireland by people?