The government has launched its latest bid to avoid a crippling strike at the three biggest Irish airports.

An expert panel has been set up to try and resolve the row over pensions which has threatened to disrupt air travel on the Friday ahead of St. Patrick's weekend.

The government is teaming up with trade unions and employers to try and avoid the strike by workers at Aer Lingus and the Dublin Airport Authority (DAA).

A joint statement has been issued by IBEC, the Department of Transport, Department of Jobs and ICTU this afternoon.

It says the panel will carry out an urgent investigation of how a final resolution to dispute over the Irish Airlines Superannuation Scheme can be secured.

Workers are due to go on strike for four hours on March 14th in a dispute over their pension fund.

However Transport Minister Leo Varadkar says he now hopes SIPTU will put the strike on hold while talks continue.