Both security and Provisional republican sources are indicating that there does not appear to be any major split in the IRA and that there is no significant transfer of allegiance from dissident Provisionals to the militant Continuity IRA and Republican Sinn Fein group.
Republican sources yesterday also indicated that, while a number of senior IRA figures had left their positions, they had not actually resigned from the IRA.
According to senior Garda sources the only significant resignations from Sinn Fein and the Provisional IRA appear to have taken place in the north Louth area. There was no evidence of any important Provisional republicans switching allegiances to the Continuity group.
There were also no obvious signs in key republican areas like Tyrone and Armagh of resignations or defections.
In the face of conflicting claims by a number of dissident republicans, the Sinn Fein chairman, Mr Mitchel McLaughlin, yesterday issued a statement saying the "overwhelming majority" of Sinn Fein members had reaffirmed their allegiance to the party.
"It cannot be denied that certain individuals have anxieties and a certain amount of doubt about the process on which we have embarked, in view of the slowness of substantive movement in the negotiations.
"I regret the decision of a small number of members of Sinn Fein in Co Louth to resign from the party."
??????ein chairman's statement said that the "overwhelming majority" of Sinn Fein members in Co Louth were committed to the party and its leadership.
An IRA statement admitted that "a small number of personnel" had resigned but said that the organisation was "totally intact".
The IRA told the Irish News in Belfast that reports that up to 20 leading members had left the organisation were "grossly exaggerated". It also stated that the ceasefire was holding.
"A few people in the recent past have left the IRA but the IRA is totally intact. We want to make the point that the IRA cessation is intact as well," the statement added. The organisation was united and enjoyed the support of its members on the ground, the IRA said.
The UUP leader, Mr David Trimble, claimed that the resignations from the IRA and Sinn Fein were "amicable" and "choreographed", and that they could signal the beginning of the end of the IRA ceasefire.
"It is possible that the IRA are beginning to arrange the events that will lead to the ending of their ceasefire in order to provide themselves with a spurious justification."
The resignations, he said, were a "carefully scripted operation to make it look as though there were divisions" with the intention of increasing the IRA's leverage on government and strengthening the bargaining power of Sinn Fein.
"If there was a real split in the IRA then we would see it evidenced more clearly in the way that real splits have occurred within that organisation before."
The UUP leader also maintained that the fact that Semtex was used in a bomb planted by the Continuity IRA in Derry last week indicated that the IRA might be "contracting out operations".
The Northern Secretary, Dr Mo Mowlam, said there was no evidence that the resignations would affect the IRA ceasefire.
Dissidents speak out; Northern reaction: page 8; Editorial comment: page 15