The Irish Aviation Authority has confirmed that it monitored the activity of two Russian military aircraft off the coast of Ireland yesterday afternoon.

British RAF jets were scrambled off the coast of Cornwall. However the IAA says the aircraft involved did not enter Irish sovereign airspace at any time.

The British Prime Minister David Cameron says he thinks Moscow was trying to make "some sort of a point".

Last night RAF jets intercepted a Russian Tu-95 bomber off the coast of Cornwall. The incident comes two weeks after jets were scrambled to see off a similar Russian plane which flew down the English Channel off the coast of Bournemouth.

"It is the first time since the height of the Cold War that has happened and it just shows you the need to respond each time he does something like that," said British Defence Secretary Michael Fallon. 

The Irish Aviation Authority confirmed to Newstalk Lunchtime that it monitored the activity of the aircraft, but stated: "The flight posed no safety threat to civil aviation on this occasion."

Tom Clonan, Security Analyst with the Irish Times, spoke to Lunchtime today about the incident and said: "if the Russians keep flying up and down through this airspace with their transponders turned off, my fear would be that you could have a near miss or you could be caught up in their wake turbulence... or you could have a mid-air collision.

"We cannot see them, that's the problem. We're probably the only country in the EU that cannot see into our own airspace with primary radar."

You can listen back to the interview here: 

Earlier the UK's Defence Secretary warned there is a "real and present danger" Russia could repeat its covert campaigns in the Crimea and Ukraine to destablise former Soviet bloc countries.

Michael Fallon said NATO must be ready for Russian aggression against alliance members including Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia.

He warned the action could involve using irregular troops, cyber attacks and inflaming tensions with ethnic Russian minorities.

"NATO has to be ready for any kind of aggression from Russia, whatever form it takes. NATO is getting ready," he said. Mr Fallon added that he was worried about Russian President Vladimir Putin's "pressure on the Baltics".

Originally published at 11.08am