Members of the Real IRA are helping other republican paramilitaries who are not yet on ceasefire, the Chief Constable of the RUC, Mr Ronnie Flanagan, said yesterday.
He said he was concerned the so-called Continuity IRA was getting individual backing from the Real IRA, which carried out the attack in Omagh where 29 people were killed and over 300 injured.
Mr Flanagan said he considered that all paramilitary organisations still posed a threat, including those who called a cessation of military operations. "While they have significantly reduced their level of activity, not one of them has reduced their capability by one iota."
The Chief Constable told BBC Radio's On The Record: I have no doubt that at membership level, there is contact and there is some blurring of the edges between all of these organisations." Ms Geraldine Kennedy of Republican Sinn Fein, believed to be the political wing of the Continuity IRA, confirmed on the same programme that her organisation had been in discussions with the 32 County Sovereignty Committee, which in turn is believed to be connected to the Real IRA.
"Basically their beliefs are the same as ours. The reason they came into being was because of the last ceasefire. And they felt that it wasn't a ceasefire, it was surrender, just like ourselves. So the basic republican principles are there as well."