The IRA has all but ruled out a meeting with the Consultative Group on the Past led by Dennis Bradley and Lord Robin Eames.
The decision was made known yesterday by republican sources, who said the group's formation had consistently been questioned.
The Eames-Bradley group had been "established by the British, given a remit by the British and will report back to the British", The Irish Timeswas told.
It was therefore "highly unlikely" that a meeting between the Eames-Bradley group and the current leadership of the IRA would take place. The decision potentially devalues significantly any report produced by the consultative group.
Lord Eames, former Church of Ireland primate, and Mr Bradley, former vice-chairman of the Northern Ireland Policing Board, had sought the meeting as part of their year-long consultation into ways of dealing with the legacy of the Troubles.
The group they lead was formed by former northern secretary Peter Hain last June and charged with holding consultations and to produce a report, expected in the late summer, outlining options on how to address the past. It has chaired more than 100 meetings with groups as well as a series of high-profile public consultation sessions which ended in January.
The Irish Times was told more than six weeks ago that meetings would also be sought with the leaderships of paramilitary groups, including loyalists and the IRA, to ascertain their views on the legacy of the Troubles.
Private talks have already been held with the British intelligence service and with members of the Stevens team which has spent years producing three reports on collusion between the police and loyalist paramilitaries.
Asked if talks between the group and the IRA were now ruled out, one source insisted on the "highly unlikely" phrase but denied that this amounted to provision of room to manoeuvre by republicans. "I don't try to second-guess these people," the source said of the IRA leadership.
The Eames-Bradley group declined to comment last night. Unionist representatives, many of whom have already been alarmed by talk of an amnesty for former paramilitaries, also declined to comment.
SDLP deputy leader Alasdair McDonnell accused the IRA of "playing politics with the pain of thousands of victims".
"The Provisionals make great play of their concerns for victims," the South Belfast MP added. "But they are only concerned with some. It is scandalous if they refuse to co-operate with the Eames-Bradley group who are genuinely trying to confront the past."
Republicans could now place more emphasis on the four Victims Commissioners, including one with a republican background, and their work on the issue.