People convicted of some tax offences could potentially be appointed to senior posts in financial services under proposals put forward by the industry's watchdog.

The Irish Financial Services Regulatory Authority (Ifsra) recently published proposals for governing people's fitness to act as senior managers and directors in the industry.

They include a plan to ban anyone convicted on indictment - in the circuit or a higher court - of tax offences.

However, the same proposal leaves it open for people to hold senior posts who have been convicted in the district court, where the majority of revenue offences are tried.

The district court tries summary or minor offences. Individuals charged with breaches such as failing to make proper tax returns, VAT and PAYE offences are regularly tried at this level.

The financial regulator's proposals state "summary convictions of a serious nature would be viewed as information needed by the regulator to adjudicate on the application". It proposes asking candidates for senior management posts or directorships in the financial services industry if they have such convictions.

A spokeswoman for the regulator told The Irish Times that each individual would be judged on a "case-by-case" basis, and that applications would be scrutinised by a fitness and probity committee. "In each case, we will take the nature of the offence and individual circumstances into account," she said.

The proposals follow on from an earlier document to which industry groups have responded.

The regulator has also rowed back from an earlier proposal that all senior managers and directors produce a tax clearance certificate before they are appointed.

The up-do-date proposals also state that where someone has paid tax penalties, and details of these have been published, they can hold directorships or managerial posts once they have not been convicted on indictment.