Senior Sinn Fein members have been accused of holding senior roles in the Provisional IRA, according to the body which monitors paramilitary activity in Northern Ireland.
The Independent Monitoring Commission (IMC) report, published today, also warned that the names of people believed to be paramilitary leaders may be released in future.
According to Lord Alderdice, one of the authors of the report: "Those who are involved at a senior level should expect to receive direct communications from the commission in the near future".
The report has prompted the Northern Ireland Secretary of State, Mr Paul Murphy, to confirm that financial sanctions would be imposed on Sinn Fein and the Progressive Unionist Party (PUP) because of the IMC's finding that both parties had links to paramilitary groups involved in violence and other crime.
The IMC said it considered the illegal activity so serious it would have recommended expelling both parties from the Assembly, if it had been sitting.
The Commission found murder rates were approaching one a month.
The Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, described the IMC report as extremely disturbing and worrying and added that he accepted the report's main finding - that leading members of Sinn Féin were also leading members of the Provisional IRA.
The Sinn Féin President, Mr Gerry Adams, has rejected the Commission's report, claiming it was "partisan" and "a sham".
Mr Adams described the IMC report as "discriminatory" and called on the Government to stand up to the "British Government-led agenda". He accused the the IMC of existing solely to facilitate the exclusion of Sinn Fein, to "soft peddle on unionist violence and to entirely ignore the behaviour of the British Government".
The four-man body, drawn from Britain, Ireland and the US, also backed chief constable Hugh Orde's verdict that the IRA were behind the abduction of dissident republican Bobby Tohill in February that sparked a political crisis in Belfast. "The operation was one planned and undertaken by the Provisional IRA," it concluded.
In the House of Commons today Mr Murphy said that: "On the basis of reported figures, the scale of paramilitary violence since January 1st 2003 has been worryingly high, approaching one murder a month, some three victims a week both from shootings and assaults.
"The commission goes on to state that two parties, Sinn Fein and the PUP have links with paramilitary groups. It is clear from the report that senior politicians are in a position to exercise significant influence over their activities."
He said the Commission had found that paramilitary activity is at a disturbingly high level on the part of both republican and loyalist groups.
Mr Murphy said: "I am persuaded it would be right to remove for a period the entitlement to the block financial assistance paid to assembly parties in respect of Sinn Fein and the PUP."
The exact nature of the financial penalties will not be announced until next Wednesday, April 28th. Mr Murphy said he would in line with legal requirements, take into account representations from the political parties before reaching a final decision.