Claims that the IRA has been gathering information on Protestant community workers can only be regarded as deeply alarming.
It has been suggested in the past that republicans engaged in intelligence-gathering activities simply to keep their organisation's structures intact, but had no intention of breaking their ceasefire.
This was entirely unacceptable when it related to police officers, soldiers and political figures, but it now appears to be even more extensive than was first suspected.
The Protestant Community Workers Association said yesterday that 21 of its members had been notified by police that their personal details were in the hands of republicans.
Individuals were told that republicans had kept files on those who took part in cross-community initiatives, analysing what they had said during what were supposed to be private meetings.
As a result, members of the association said they were withdrawing from all similar projects.
It can be expected that efforts to reduce violence in interface areas will be directly affected by this decision.
Important progress has been made in a number of districts thanks to such discussions, despite the mutual suspicions which initially existed.
Some community workers have been quite open about their links with loyalists, while others have connections on the republican side.
However, many people who have tried to reach across the sectarian divide had no paramilitary background whatsover and will have been profoundly disturbed by the latest revelations.
It is essential that every effort is made to revive the cross-community dialogue and to reassure those who believe that they were under threat.
This will mean a much more frank and comprehensive approach on the part of republicans than was evident from the terse IRA statement issued yesterday afternoon.
In a wider sense, the whole affair illustrates yet again the malign influence which illegal groups exercise on so many sections of society.
All paramilitary organisations have had their day and the sooner they accept this reality the better.
