Tax inspectors have no plans to issue strike notice while talks on the recruitment of an additional 352 staff to the Revenue Commissioners are continuing, their trade union said.

Members of the Association of Inspectors of Taxes, affiliated to IMPACT, voted by more than four to one in favour of industrial action earlier this week.

But the association's executive which represents about 700 tax specialists decided after a meeting yesterday to continue talks with the Revenue on the new appointments. While the Department of Finance has sanctioned the recruitment of some 352 Revenue staff, the inspectors dispute the appointments on two grounds.

Firstly, they are unhappy with the number of officials to be appointed to certain grades within the inspectorate. In addition, the inspectors want promotions to be based on seniority - the Revenue's management proposes a merit-based structure. A Revenue spokesman said discussions with IMPACT were continuing. "There's been a lot of contact, almost on a daily basis."

When asked whether the vote would place additional pressure on the Revenue's negotiating team, he said: "We've been very anxious to advance this matter for quite some time. Obviously we note the result of the ballot but there have been talks and progress has been made."

An IMPACT spokesman said: "No notice for industrial action will be served unless those discussions break down."

The union would have to serve at least one week's strike notice if this happened.

When asked why a ballot was taken when negotiations were continuing, the spokesman said the poll was sanctioned after the inspectors received an initial offer from Revenue managers. It was not unusual for a ballot to be taken while discussions were ongoing, he claimed.

The new appointments are needed due to the increasing workload caused by the economy's growth. The number of new appointments is not disputed by the inspectors. They are unhappy, however, with a proposal to appoint just one senior inspector, the highest grade within the inspectorate.

Under the plan Revenue management has proposed recruiting 26 higher grade inspectors, 100 inspectors and more than 100 higher tax officers with a further 100 people for the general services division.