CRUCIAL talks to avert the closure of Dublin, Shannon and Cork airports if Wednesday are to take place at the Labour Relations Commission today.
Informal contacts between the two sides continued through the weekend and a spokesman for Aer Rianta expressed optimism last night that a resolution of the problems involving private security firms and the Airport Police and Fire Service (APFS) would be found today.
He said that the issue was much larger than the arrangements over the one private jet which is due to arrive at Dublin Airport on Wednesday and which threayens to be the trigger for strike action.
"The issue is being thrashed out and the hope is that a formula will be agreed by the time of the meeting at the LRC."
Talks are expected to concentrate on reaching an immediate resolution to Wednesday's problem and providing a framework agreement for dealing with the longer term implications of private security companies operating at the airports.
SIPTU, the union representing the APFS, has been warning for several months that the increasing role being assumed by Air Defence International (ADI) at Irish airports is not acceptable.
ADI personnel have been used by US carriers in order to comply with Federal Aviation Authority counter terrorism requirements'.
They provide security within the aircraft and the immediate vicinity of the luggage and cargo holds on the apron.
There has been speculation that their role would be extended to other areas. The matter has come to a head because of plans for a businessman who is a member of the ruling family in Brunei to bring his private jet to Dublin on Wednesday using only ADI personnel for security purposes.
As he has a worldwide contract with ADI and the company is Iicensed to operate at Dublin Airport, Aer Rianta has been saying that the arrangements are a matter for the individual concerned.
There has been only one previous occasion when a private jet has come in with similar private security cover. Two years ago an arrangement was made that the APFS would provide some protection for the aircraft while it was in the airport complex.
There is no code of conduct governing disputes affecting essential services at Aer Rianta airports so that industrial action by the APFS would mean they would almost certainly have to close.
Even if the Garda Siochana was drafted in it is unlikely the force would have the necessary expertise to meet international aviation safety requirements. It would also almost certainly lead to an escalation of the dispute to involve other Aer Rianta employees, who are also members of SIPTU.