Unions and management at Ryanair are meeting today in a final effort to break the deadlock over tomorrow's planned pilot strike.

The two sides are holding talks at a neutral venue at Dublin Airport.

The action by up to 100 pilots based in Dublin is set to go ahead – and the airline has said only flights to the UK will be affected.

It has cancelled 30 of its 290 Irish flights in an effort to ensure all flights between Ireland and the continent can operate as normal.

It said passengers that haven't been informed of cancellations can assume their flight will go ahead.

“What we have done is cancelled flights on high frequency routes to London and UK regional airports where we have got a lot of flights so customers can easily transfer onto another flight,” he said.

Talks starting now re #ryanairstrike but @forsa_union_ie not optimistic it can be averted pic.twitter.com/jpIplrzAkM

— Juliette Gash (@JulietteGash) July 11, 2018

The strike is being organised by members of the Irish Air Line Pilots' Association (IALPA), which is a branch of the Fórsa union.

Bernard Harbour from trade union Fórsa said officials are here to talk - but tomorrow’s strike is likely to go ahead.

"I have to say that there are not strong grounds for optimism," he said.

"The company have refused to meet us until this morning - so it has been left until the 11th hour.

"We haven't even started to negotiate on this issue before today; there has been an exchange of correspondence but nothing more so we are not optimistic there will be progress this morning.

"Obviously we will be doing our best - that is what we are here for - and we will see what can be achieved."

Business as usual @DublinAirport today as @Ryanair and @forsa_union_ie prepare to meet for talks ahead of tomorrow’s strike pic.twitter.com/De2OnFurEZ

— Juliette Gash (@JulietteGash) July 11, 2018

The dispute centres on issues like union recognition, base transfers and seniority.

Ryanair has said the disruption is “unnecessary” and insisted it has already sent the FÓRSA union “written proposals on seniority, annual leave and base transfers.”

The Commission for Aviation Regulation has urged affected passengers to make themselves aware of their entitlements in the event the strike does do ahead.

If a flight is cancelled, the airline is obliged to offer:

• Re-routing as soon as possible
• Re-routing at a later date at your convenience
• A refund.

Full details of passenger entitlements are available here.