Almost one in 10 applicants for a door supervisor or private security guard licence who have been vetted by gardaí have a conviction, with door supervisors twice as likely to have a conviction than security guards.
However, the majority of the convictions among applicants are not deemed by the Private Security Authority (PSA) to be relevant to their application.
According to figures released by the authority - which oversees the licensing of the sector - 9 per cent of 8,500 individuals who have so far been vetted by the Garda had some sort of court conviction.
About 1,700 of these applications were for door supervisor or "bouncer" licences, with the rate of convictions among these individuals running at approximately twice that of "static" security guards, the PSA says.
About 7 per cent of vetted applicants had a conviction which they openly disclosed to the PSA but which it did not deem to be relevant.
A further 1.7 per cent did not disclose convictions which the authority subsequently deemed relevant, while 0.3 per cent had convictions which they did disclose and which the authority decided were relevant to their application.
The PSA's director of licensing, Paul Scallan, told The Irish Times that it assesses each application on a "case by case" basis. "The level of convictions is lower than we would have been led to believe by observers in the industry."
Mr Scallan said typical examples of the types of conviction which are deemed not to be relevant to an application are minor road traffic offences, some drink-driving convictions or juvenile offences, and convictions for offences which may have occurred a long time ago.
However, if any conviction is thought to be directly relevant to an individual's area of work - for example, if a door supervisor has a previous conviction for assault - this would always be taken into account.
The authority has not yet refused any application for a licence, but this may change in the coming weeks as it writes to all applicants to obtain their views before making a final ruling.
Since April 1st it has been an offence to operate in a designated sector of the private security industry without a licence or proof of having applied for such a licence. It is also an offence to employ an unlicensed person.
To obtain a licence applicants must prove that they have training relevant to their sector. They must also complete a Garda vetting form or criminal record certificate.
Other information required by the PSA includes a valid tax-clearance certificate.
Overall, 91 per cent of the applicants vetted by gardaí had no convictions.
By the middle of last month, 4,744 applications for a door supervisor licence had been received by the PSA.
A further 14,594 applications for "static" security guard licences were received.
These people typically work in retail stores, office complexes and industrial estates or building sites.
Three-quarters of all applicants work for a security contractor, with the remainder working "in house" for employers such as pubs, supermarkets and shopping centres.
The vast majority of applicants are men, with just 4 per cent of applications from women.
Applications for licences from the PSA were received from 96 nationalities.
Of these 65 per cent of applicants were Irish, 8 per cent were Polish and almost 5 per cent were Nigerian.