Armed Gardaí from the Regional Support Unit are reportedly set to be deployed at Dublin Airport and Dublin Port in response to the attacks in Brussels.

There has previously been no visible armed Garda presence at either of the major transport hubs, however that looks set to change following Tuesday’s atrocity in Belgium.

Speaking to Newstalk.com, a spokesperson for Dublin Port said that, though there has never been an openly armed Garda presence patrolling the port, they have surely been there in a covert manner.

Dublin Airport has its own police, the Airport Police Service, which is responsible for general policing and security duties at the airport - however they only have jurisdiction at the airport and they are not armed.

The planned patrols have yet to get underway and the airport and the port were unable to confirm when they will.

The Gardaí said that "the level of threat is kept under constant review and all appropriate measures will continue to be taken by An Garda Síochána commensurate with the current security situation. For obvious security reasons, we could not go into the details of the operational response."

The armed unit has recently had a high profile presence on Dublin’s streets following the recent eruption of gangland violence which claimed its third life last night.

In a statement condemning the events in Brussels, the government said the likelihood of a terrorist attack in Ireland is no higher than it was before the attack.

“It remains the case that an attack here is assessed as possible but not likely,” the statement read.