In a letter from Alan to Henry, dated the year of the partitioning between the half-brothers, Alan mentioned that he was preoccupied with his army and fleet, travelling from island to island. This statement could well evince the beginning of joint military operations, conducted by Alan and Rǫgnvaldr against Óláfr, assigned by the chronicle to the following year. According to the latter source, however, the campaigning came to nought because the Manx were unwilling to battle against Óláfr and the Hebrideans. This record appears to show that Alan portrayed his actions in the Isles as related to his conflict with the Lacys in Ireland. As such, the correspondence could be evidence that the Ulster ambitions of Hugh de Lacy were aligned with Óláfr in the Isles. Not only did Óláfr clash with Rǫgnvaldr's son in 1223, but Hugh launched a bid to recover his forfeited Earldom of Ulster in the same year, a reclamation that seriously threatened recent Gallovidian expansion in Ireland. Whilst Rǫgnvaldr clearly had the support of Alan and his family, there is reason to suspect that Óláfr was allied to Hugh. In the correspondence between Alan and Henry, Alan stated that he had been on the verge of launching an invasion of Ireland when he learned of an agreement reached between Hugh and the Justiciar of Ireland, and therefore sought the king's confirmation of his family's lands in Ulster. Alan's letter appears to show that his campaigning in the Isles was understood to have been a detriment to Hugh in Ireland. As such, Hugh seems to have been expected to make use of military assistance from Isles in his restoration attempt. Óláfr's move against Rǫgnvaldr in 1223 and 1224—the very time the Lacys campaigned against Gallovidian interests in Ireland—is unlikely to have been a coincidence. It may have been window of opportunity that Óláfr seized upon. Alternately, it may have been Hugh himself who capitalised upon the Gallovidian's campaigning against Óláfr.