Ireland has failed to transpose an EU directive regulating the working hours of pilots and cabin crew into law, the European Court of Justice ruled yesterday.

The court found that the Government had failed to introduce the directive by the legal deadline of December 1st 2003 and has ordered Ireland to pay the costs of the legal case.

The ruling comes just a week after a Channel 4 documentary suggested that Ryanair pilots were overworked, casting a spotlight on air crew and pilots' work conditions.

Ryanair rejected the allegations made in the programme and yesterday a spokesman insisted its pilots were already operating below the flight time limits.

The EU directive, which has still not been implemented by the Government, would guarantee a host of benefits to air crews such as: four week's paid annual leave; a free health assessment at regular intervals; a certain number of days free of all service - seven days per month and at least 96 days a year. It would also guarantee a maximum working time of 2,000 hours per year, which includes flight time limited to 900 hours.

Ireland did not oppose the legal action taken against it by the European Commission.

A spokeswoman for the Department of Transport said yesterday that it hoped to transpose the EU directive into national law by passing a new regulation before the end of April. However, she said that all the details on pilot hours and safety contained in the EU directive were already covered by Irish Aviation Authority regulations.

"The directive will have no effect on safety standard," she added. A spokeswoman for Aer Lingus agreed, saying implementation of the directive would have no negative impact on its business. She said the company's collective bargaining agreement already provides employment protection for its staff in the area of working time limitations.

Earlier this week the commission criticised Ireland for its failure to transpose EU directives into national law on time in a survey published by internal market commissioner Charlie McCreevy. The survey found that Ireland was ranked 19th out 25 member states in terms of transposing EU directives into law on time. The survey also found that the Government faces 51 separate legal cases at the European Court of Justice related to its failure to adopt legislation governing Europe's internal market.