SIPTU: Aer Lingus strike action still on

SIPTU says strike action planned at Aer Lingus and the country's three main airports on Friday week will go ahead.

However, the union says it will fully co-operate with an expert panel appointed by Government to try to resolve the long-running and bitter pensions dispute.

A four-hour work stoppage is planned for the Friday of the St. Patrick's weekend and the union's pensions committee says it will also meet again later this week to discuss further industrial action in the weeks ahead.

Earlier the Transport Minister Leo Varadkar had claimed that the planned strike would be called off, and is now struggling to understand why it has not been.