Just before Christmas, the Railway Procurement Agency (RPA) . . . which runs Dublin's 800m Luas . . . advertised that it had spare cable capacity for rent in the ducts running under the two Luas lines which could be used by the telecommunications industry. Mobile phone companies have until 18 January to register their interest.

A spokesman for the RPA this weekend said that the planned repair work on the Luas lines would not interfere in any way with its efforts to sell off excess cable capacity as a means of boosting income for the troubled tram service.

The cables run in large ducts under the Luas lines and are easily accessible by a series of concrete trapdoors along the lines, said the spokesman. Laying down any new cables would simply be a matter of entering the ducts and would not involve any construction work, he said.

The spokesman added that the faults revealed last week in the concrete under the tracks would also not involve any major construction work to repair. This work will start in the spring and will involve fastening additional clips on those parts of the lines affected by the faults, all of which are outside the city centre, he said.

"There will be no digging up and services will face only minor disruption, " said the spokesman.

He added that the cost would be "nothing near" the 10m reported last week and said the construction company, ABM Joint Venture, had accepted full responsibility for the repair work and it . . . not the taxpayer . . . will foot the bill.