The company that operates the Luas has said it could lose up to €100,000 per day if a strike by drivers goes ahead.

Transdev has said it cannot afford to pay increases of up to 54%.

But workers demanding the hikes are due to down tools in two 48-hour work stoppages starting tomorrow.

Gerry Madden is the Managing Director of Transdev - he has said industrial action is only making their finances worse: “We’ve got a helluva lot of customers who are going to be seriously disrupted tomorrow by the actions of SIPTU, so let me just apologise to them first and foremost.

“We are looking in the region of 70-100,000 people on any given day, in terms of revenue numbers to us as a company, in the region of a €100,000 loss per day.

“Which is actually a very critical number because, whatever deal we get to eventually and we will have to, our financial situation is not going to be improved or helped in terms of a pay award by these strikes.”

However Eoin Reidy, from trade union SIPTU who's representing drivers, says increased Luas profits mean Transdev can easily afford pay rises: “The company’s position has been in talks, in the LRC and the Labour court.

“0% consumer price index which is 0% and that is not sustainable in a service that is operated in increased revenues of 30% in the last five years and passenger numbers of 30% in the last five years.”