Arthur Beesley and
Julie Anne Barnes
Over 50 flights with a capacity of 7,000 passengers could be grounded if the two-hour stoppage by SIPTU workers at Aer Rianta goes ahead as planned on January 22nd.
A spokesman for Aer Rianta said last night it was difficult to predict the level of disruption the protest would cause at this stage but said he hoped the strike would not go ahead.
The level of disruption, he added, would depend on "how many people follow SIPTU's lead".
However, he said as many as 57 incoming and outbound flights could be grounded.
He said, Aer Rianta had not been served strike notice.
The two-hour stoppage after 8 a.m. on January 22nd will coincide with the arrival of EU justice and home affairs ministers for an informal meeting with Mr McDowell at Dublin Castle.
The Minister for Justice, Mr McDowell, accused SIPTU of attempting to embarrass the Irish people by calling the strike on the same day as a meeting of EU ministers in Dublin next week. His spokesman said the workers should "seriously reconsider taking this action".
The Government has maintained it will bring EU ministers into the Aer Corps airport at Baldonnell, Co Dublin, if Aer Rianta workers strike around the time of meetings.
The action marks a sharp escalation in the confrontation between the trade union and the Government over its plans to break up Aer Rianta and CIÉ.
With SIPTU members expected to walk off the job at the Aer Rianta airports in Dublin, Cork and Shannon, Mr McDowell's spokesman said: "The Minister would be disappointed that any organisation would specifically set out to embarrass the Irish people by attempting to disrupt Ireland's EU presidency."
But SIPTU claimed that the action was being taken with a view to "minimise" the impact on the travelling public.
The union's national industrial secretary, Mr Michael Halpenny, said: "Industrial action had been deferred in favour of a third round of discussions on the Government decision to break up Aer Rianta into three separate companies."
He blamed the action on "the ongoing failure of Aer Rianta and the Department of Transport to confirm reasonable guarantees on jobs terms, conditions of employment and pensions".
This was strongly denied by a spokesman for the Minister for Transport, Mr Brennan.
"The sequence was that Séamus Brennan wrote to Jack O'Connor of SIPTU last week giving him assurances that there would be no compulsory redundancies and that the terms and conditions of staff would not be lesser than they are under Aer Rianta," he said.
"Jack O'Connor responded in the last few days by welcoming the letter but by saying he would like to expand on the assurances with a number of clarifications and substantiations."
He added: "We're at the stage where Séamus Brennan will be responding to that letter and up to a dozen clarifications that Jack O'Connor was seeking, the spokesman said.
Fine Gael's transport spokesman, Mr Dennis Naughten, said the strike action was "remarkably short-sighted" and smacked of bullying.
"Ireland's respected position within the EU will suffer, while SIPTU's own image on the European stage will be damaged," he said.
However, Mr Naughten blamed Mr Brennan for the confrontation.
"It's the consumer who will really pay the price for this two-hour stoppage.
"Passengers will be forced to play piggy-in-the-middle in the ongoing feud between Brennan and SIPTU," he said.