Former terrorists have turned to ordinary crime to fund their new lifestyles, the Minister for Justice, Michael McDowell told the Dail today.
He said security intelligence reports showed that such individuals had recently been involved in criminal activities for their own personal gain.
Replying to questions in the Dail, he said: “There is some sporadic evidence that former paramilitaries are now turning to ordinary criminality as a lifestyle maintenance activity outside of their paramilitary connections.
“A number of incidents have taken place recently in which these kind of people have been involved, acting for their own personal gain.”
The minister also told opposition justice spokesman Jim O'Keeffe that he estimated there were between 1,000 and 1,500 active volunteers within the IRA and that dissident Republican paramilitary groups each had no more than 150 members.
Mr O'Keeffe earlier asked if the recent upsurge in armed robberies in the Republic had any links with “freelance redundant republicans” who provided personnel or arms.
Mr McDowell replied that the Provisional IRA was at an advanced stage of an internal debate on embracing politics to achieve their aims.
He added: “The other dissident groups continue to get their act together and the gardai continue to have significant successes in breaking up their efforts and detecting their activities. ”
“It would be fair to say that there are between 1,000 and 1,500 active volunteers within the IRA,” Mr McDowell said.
“Of the dissident bodies, none of them would have more than 150 people attached to them.”
The minister reiterated that the IRA must respond with actions which will convince all communities that the armed struggle is over and that paramilitarism and criminality was at an end.
“The sooner these decisions are made the better. But they have to be made in a credible way,” he said.
“Words alone will not suffice because they have to be accompanied by acts and inaction of a palpable kind that will convince the community at large, and particularly the community that has most to fear from them, that it is well and truly all over.”