Talks aimed at averting industrial action at the Luas won't go ahead today after they were cancelled before they had even begun on Friday.

Escalating differences in a row over pay hikes of up to 53% mean that talks at the WRC have been shelved.

Luas drivers will now down tools on March 8 and against on St Patrick's Day - and further strike action may be on the cards after that.

SIPTU is denying claims by management that drivers are using extended toilet breaks to disrupt the service.

SIPTU's Eoin Reidy said: "If the allegation (of orchestrated toilet breaks) is true, it's serious and it wouldn’t be appropriate or right, (but) just because the company has said it's true, doesn’t mean that it is.

"This is a company that seems to want to spend more time demonising their staff in the media than rolling their sleeves up and negotiating with us."