Dublin Bus has said that the strike action by drivers is having a catastrophic impact on the company.

The fifth day of industrial action begins at midnight tonight – but management has again decided to stop all services from 9pm to allow buses return to the depots.

Around 400,000 commuters are affected by the action, which Dublin Bus says has cost it over €4m to date.

Drivers are continuing to demand a 15% pay rise – almost twice what the Labour Court has recommended.

“It’s long since past time I would suggest that Dublin Bus, would support of a Government, would come back to the table without preconditions,” said the National Bus and Rail Union’s Dermot O’Leary.

“I’ve been saying this for the last two weeks – this dispute will only be resolved around a table.

“And putting people like the people who commute in and out of Dublin, the people who work in the industry, putting them through this torture, because that what it is at this stage, it’s about time it came to and end and [get] people around that table, which we’ve been prepared to do for a number of weeks now.”