France, July 1 -- A French air defence warship carried out manoeuvres with Irish naval vessels off Dublin Bay at the weekend as Ireland stepped up defence preparations for the presidency, which runs from 1 July until the end of the year.

The French multipurpose frigate - equipped with advanced air defence radar and up to 32 anti-aircraft missiles - was reportedly operating in the Irish Sea some 14 nautical miles east of North Dublin on Sunday, while two Irish Naval Service vessels conducted manoeuvres nearby.

The ships had their transponders turned off, meaning they were not visible on open-source ship tracking platforms, but they could be seen by passengers on civilian aircraft landing at Dublin Airport.

The operation, which was not a...