Interesting report.

Similar incidents happened with Aer Lingus aircraft on two occasions in the late 90's...

The first incident concerned a BAE - 146 enroute to STN from DUB. Somewhere over Hertfordshire the aircraft encountered a very strange craft with red & blue lights that seemed to fly along in front of them with an almost collision taking place. The pilots estimated the clearance at no more than 100ft. Several investigations concluded the cause as being unknown as there were absolutely no military aircraft in the area at that time.

The second incident occured near Newgrange, Co. Meath (Ireland). The aircraft was on approach to DUB with runway 16/34 (NE/SW) in operation when passengers reported a ''purple'' traingular shaped object taking off from the ground below and surrounding the aircraft. There was a reported 'power drain' onboard the aircarft with the outside air temperature increasing above 100 degrees centigrade momentarily. When the aircraft landed in Dublin, the pilots were unable to deploy the spoilers as they had been somehow damaged during the incident that took place.