Provisional IRA members are dedicated to politics and are "not engaged in paramilitary activity", the British and Irish governments have been told.
The Independent Monitoring Commission (IMC), the ceasefire watchdog, also reported yesterday that some senior members of the IRA were actively and successfully managing the transition from a paramilitary organisation to a new political mode.
The security assessment was contained in a positive IMC report on security "normalisation" and set the tone for its more detailed commentary on paramilitarism due before the governments host intense talks with the parties in Scotland next month.
The IMC said the IRA leadership had "taken a stance against criminality and disorder amongst the membership, and has been engaged in successful dialogue to prevent violence during the 2006 parades season". It reported also that senior members of the Provisional IRA were engaged in community work while others had taken up roles within Sinn Féin and were encouraging others to do the same. "The fact that the Provisional IRA retains a command and control structure does not in our view detract from this. Indeed, this structure is an important element in maintaining the organisation on its chosen path," it said.
The most significant threat to peace and the security of the state came from dissident republicans, the report said. But the dissidents' capability was hampered "by their limited expertise".
This is despite serious arson attacks in Newry and Dungannon last month and a failed bomb attack on the Co Louth property owned by Lord Ballyedmond, the former senator Eddie Haughey.
Loyalists remained involved in violence, the IMC reported, but did not represent an active threat to the security forces.
The IMC, represented at the publication by former department of justice secretary Joe Brosnan and former Alliance leader Lord Alderdice, said: "The UVF refusal to clarify its position in advance of November 24th remains a worry, not least in view of their refusal to decommission arms or in others ways to reduce their capability to revert to terrorism."
They found that loyalist paramilitary groups remained "strongly entrenched" in some communities.
The IMC assessment of the dissident republican threat was endorsed by a senior PSNI officer, Assistant Chief Constable Peter Sheridan, who told a public session of the Policing Board earlier: "It is clear to us that dissidents remain committed to achieving their means through violence, and for that reason we believe the dissident threat is real and indeed they still have the capability to carry out attacks as they did [ last month] in Newry."
He added it was clear that the dissidents wished to carry out attacks, including incendiaries, and "to continue to destabilise the political process up to the 24th November", when the governments want agreement on devolution.
Northern Ireland security minister Paul Goggins noted the report's criticism that the appearance of some PSNI stations were still fortress-like. However, he said the British government was "as good as its word" by reducing British troop levels to 8,300 slightly ahead of schedule.
The DUP said it noted the report but added that much more needed to be done by the IRA.
Sinn Féin dismissed the IMC's significance. Fermanagh-South Tyrone MP Michelle Gildernew said: "Well before any pronouncement from the IMC it has been patently clear to everyone objectively looking at this situation that the IRA had delivered to the word on every commitment it entered into this time last year.
"The IRA have dealt decisively with genuine issues of concern put forward by unionists and it is very clear that the time for the DUP using this issue as an excuse not to engage and move forward has long since past."
The SDLP greeted the British security demilitarisation and called for more progress.