GARDAI have detected no signs of a split within the IRA or between the IRA and Sinn Fein, and do not consider the Manchester bombing the work of a group which has broken away from the IRA.
The gardai are also increasingly concerned that further IRA attacks could prompt a retaliatory attack by loyalists against civilian targets in the Republic. Gardai sources said yesterday they were becoming increasingly concerned about a loyalist "backlash", possibly a bomb attack on an urban centre or other civilian target in the Republic.
Garda Special Branch detectives throughout the State, who have been working to establish what is going on within the IRA "and Sinn Fein, have yet to find any sign of a split. A small number of Provisional IRA supporters in north Monaghan, who had defected to the breakaway Republican Sinn Fein group, were said to have returned to the IRA/Sinn Fein fold. There was no sign of other defections or breakaways.
There has been considerable speculation in recent weeks about a split in the IRA and this has been added to by unusual aspects of the Manchester bombing, in particular that there was still no sign of the usual statement of admission by last evening.
The Sinn Fein president, Mr Gerry Adams, alluded to the absence of an IRA admission during a press conference in Belfast yesterday but drew no conclusions on his own.
A report from security sources in Northern Ireland two weeks ago suggested the possibility of a "split" IRA ceasefire announcement, with the IRA leadership calling a ceasefire while the IRA in the Border area between south Armagh and Fermanagh would derogate from the announcement.
Gardai confirm there has been constant opposition to the IRA ceasefire in the Border areas but that there has not been a breach of discipline in the IRA.
The gardai readily admit they do not know if the IRA intends" reinstating its ceasefire, as some political sources still suggest.
Meanwhile, both loyalist paramilitary organisations, the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) and Ulster Defence Association (UDA) are understood to be preparing for a return to their campaigns of violence if the IRA's violence escalates further. In a statement yesterday, the UDA, using its cover-name the Ulster Freedom Fighters, said it believed IRA action in Northern Ireland was "imminent" and it had placed its members on alert.
The UVF has said the Manchester bomb placed "severe pressure on the loyalist ceasefire.