SIPTU workers at Aer Lingus are to stage a 4-hour work stoppage on the Friday of the St. Patrick's weekend.

The unions confirmed that it has served strike notice on the airline over what it says is the failure by the company to engage in meaningful discussion on its pension deficit.

SIPTU workers are Dublin, Cork and Shannon Airports will stop work from 5am to 9am on Friday March 14th. However the union says it is available for further discussions to resolve the dispute.

This long-running dispute is over a deficit in the Aer Lingus and Dublin Airport Authority (DAA) pension scheme of €780 million.

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

Some 250,000 people arrive at our airports over the St. Patrick's weekend, as many thousands of Irish people head away.