The fight to keep the main Irish airports open at the start of the St. Patrick's weekend is going to the courts. The Dublin Airport Authority (DAA) has been given leave by the High Court to seek an injunction against SIPTU, which has organised a four hour work stoppage next Friday.

The case is likely to proceed on Monday.

The dispute centres around a deficit of €780 million in the pension scheme for workers at Aer Lingus and the DAA.

Workers at the airline and Dublin, Cork and Shannon Airports voted overwhelmingly to take industrial action last month.

Aer Lingus says it has hired in aircraft, rescheduled flights and rebooked customers on other carriers next Friday in preparation for the strike.

The DAA says the threatened industrial action by SIPTU is unwarranted and has already caused significant inconvenience for airline customers and passengers at Dublin and Cork airports.

In a statement, the DAA says it "intends to pursue all avenues at its disposal to avert this action by SIPTU and to keep its airports fully operational".

Director of Public Affairs at the DAA, Paul O'Kane, says they had no choice but to take court action as they believe the strike is unlawful and contrary to the provisions of the Industrial Relations Act.