Cable fault cuts power

An electricity power cut in Dublin city centre yesterday morning was caused by a fault in an underground cable.

The areas affected included parts of Grafton Street, Dame Street, South William Street, Wicklow Street, Clarendon Street and parts of Temple Bar.

The power cut began at 10.30 a.m. and was resolved soon after 11 a.m., according to a spokesman for the ESB, Mr Michael Kelly.

"Staff managed to reroute the supply in order to restore customers' supply. It was a question of tracking down the fault, which can be difficult with underground cables," he said.

Mr Kelly apologised for any inconvenience to customers and said he had no reason to believe there would be any further disruption.

However, Mr Duncan Graham, general manager of Brown Thomas, Grafton Street, complained that businesses were not notified about the cause of the fault.

"If it had happened on a normal Monday we would have been very stuck as it would have caused serious disruption to the city centre," he said.

"We weren't open until noon this morning so it didn't affect business as everything was up and running before the store opened at 12. But we did lose all our computers and tills and had to reboot them all."