locked as a part of Europe.Caught in the ebb and flow

of the last Ice Ages over the last 2 million years,

Ireland was an island about 125,000 years ago when the

sea level appears to have been very close to its

present position. The sea level dropped 130 m (426

feet) or more during the interval from around 30,000

to 15,000 years ago, when Ireland became part of

continental Europe [again], and sea levels have been

generally rising ever since, albeit at a much slower

rate.

In and around 20,000 years ago the area that would

later reform the British Isles was mainly covered by a

thick sheet of ice. This was during the last maximum

expansion of the polar ice caps when sea levels were

about 120 meters lower than today.