The Real IRA was behind arson attacks in Newry
The Independent Monitoring Commission's report accused the Real IRA of being behind firebomb attacks in Newry.
It said Real IRA members tried to attack a police vehicle in Ballymena.
The IMC said the group was gathering intelligence on current and former members of the security forces and also loyalist paramilitaries for targeting.
The commissioners said it was also trying to recruit members; procure and develop weapons and collecting protection money from drug dealers.
It also said the Real IRA robbed a public house in Ballymena and had been intimidating Protestant families and foreign workers in the town.
"In August we think it likely that RIRA was the dissident group responsible for incendiary devices which caused extensive damage to commercial premises in Newry," the report said.
"On the following day there were several hoax alerts and viable devices were found which failed to explode.
Active and dangerous
"These incidents represent an escalation in RIRA terrorism, which had been at a relatively low level since the end of its campaign of incendiaries in early 2005."
The IMC said the Continuity IRA remained an active and dangerous dissident republican group, attacking loyalist bonfires in June, exiling one individual and carrying out a burglary to acquire new weapons.
The commission said: "We have no doubt that CIRA remains committed to terrorism, although it continues to be the case that its capabilities do not generally match its aspirations and the police, north and south, have had a number of welcome successes against it."
The organisation continues to raise funds through the smuggling and distribution of tobacco and it has demanded protection money from foreign workers
IMC on INLA
The commission was unable to attribute a number of incidents to specific groups but believed dissidents were behind forcing a delivery van driver at gunpoint to drive his vehicle with a bomb on board to a police station in Londonderry.
Dissidents also attacked Protestant schools, gospel and Orange halls in Ballymena and Loughgiel in July.
Oglaigh na hEireann, a small dissident group which emerged in 2005, remained active trying to recruit members and obtain weapons.
It was also behind a number of bomb hoaxes.
As the Provisional IRA pursued its strategy of ending paramilitary activity over the past six months, the report noted the emergence of a maverick faction, the Republican Defence Army, at the graveside of a republican in the north west in June.
"We think the RDA is a small local grouping with limited wider appeal," the commission said.
The IMC said the Irish National Liberation Army remained committed to its "no first strike policy" and did not appear to be capable of a sustained campaign.
"Its level of activity is low," the report said.
"Its members have undertaken shootings and assaults against those they believe to be acting anti-socially or to be involved in drug dealing.
"In March it told a number of people to leave their homes and in April it was responsible for an arson attack.
"The organisation continues to raise funds through the smuggling and distribution of tobacco and it has demanded protection money from foreign workers."
Republican mural, Derry 1986, with evidence of vandalism.
The Independent Monitoring Commission has reported that the Provisional Irish Republican Army has undergone major changes within their military structure and shows that the IRA Army Council wants to put its military campaign behind it. The Commission consists of John Alderdice, a former Alliance Party leader; Joe Brosnan, former Secretary General of the Department of Justice, Republic of Ireland; John Grieve, former Deputy Assistant Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police and former head of the Metropolitan Police Anti-Terror Branch; and Dick Kerr, former Deputy Director of Central Intelligence Agency.

The report states the IRA no longer has the capacity to mount a military campaign anymore or return to one. The units that have been shut down were responsible for weapons-making, arms smuggling and training. The IRA decommissioned their arms last year.

The report also mentions that the IRA has also put its criminality beyond use and is "clamping down" on criminals within the organization, said Lord Alderdice, as he presented the report. He also added, "That doesn't mean that criminal activity by all members has stopped but the leadership has made public statements and internal directions, investigated incidents of breach of the policy, even expelled some members and has emphasised the importance of ensuring that business affairs are conducted in a legitimate way." 

Finally, the report added that there is not enough evidence or intelligence to identify who killed Denis Donaldson, a British spy who infiltrated the IRA and Sinn Fein, before revealing his status as a spy.

However, the report added that splinter groups like the Real IRA (RIRA) and Continuity IRA (CIRA) are still threats and are still continuing their activity. The Real IRA was the group behind the deadly 1998 Omagh bombing. The Irish National Liberation Army (INLA) "was not capable of undertaking a sustained campaign against the British State, nor does it aspire to" according to the report.

It is also noted the creation of two new organizations, Oglaigh na hEireann (Irish Gaelic for "Volunteers of Ireland" and is used by the Irish Defence Forces and the various IRAs.) and the Republican Defence Army. However, the groups are small dissident factions according to the report. 

The report also added that the two loyalist paramilitaries, the Ulster Defence Association (UDA) and the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) are also beginning to move from violence but at slower pace and not at a grassroots level like the IRA. Another loyalist paramilitary, the Loyalist Volunteer Force

The report was received warmly by Irish Toaiseach Bertie Ahern and British Prime Minister Tony Blair. Ahern, said "These positive and clear-cut findings are of the utmost importance and significance. It is time to make decisions and for Northern Ireland to look to the future."

"The IRA has done what we asked it to do, and while issues like policing remain to be solved, the door is now open to a final settlement, which is why the talks next week in Scotland are going to be so important." said Tony Blair in a live statement.

In a surprising reaction, the notoriously hardline leader of the Democratic Unionist Party, Ian Paisley, also welcomed the report. He believes that his party's pressure is working and if Sinn Fein signs up to policing there could be a deal. Paisley said, "If the police question is settled absolutely on a democratic basis and principle we would have come a long way along the road."

Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams said "The DUP don't have anything other than very limited options. They will or will not participate in power-sharing arrangements. If they don't participate they are condemning people here, but particularly their own constituents, to second class public services, run by second class fly-in, fly-out British ministers. All the DUP can do is to delay, is to attempt to slow down, but they can't stop the process of changing."