Allison Morris
There are three active dissident republican groupings although recent splits mean factions within factions exist in some cases.
The most recently founded, Oglaigh na hEireann, is the most active, although the Real IRA and Continuity IRA are both still involved in attacks.
CONTINUITY IRA
The Continuity IRA, which is linked to the political party Republican Sinn Fein, was responsible for last year's murder of police officer Stephen Carroll as he answered an emergency call out in Craigavon, Co Armagh.
Two men are awaiting trial in connection with the fatal shooting.
More recently the organisation appear to be self-imploding after a split between members of the so-called old guard and a more militant younger faction based in Belfast and Limerick.
There have also been allegations of criminality and misappropriation of funds.
The organisation has admitted that it is in the process of being "wound down" and has little in the way of weapons.
While it was not officially claimed sources have attributed the August 14 blast-bomb attack in Lurgan, Co Armagh, to the Continuity IRA.
The bomb had been placed in a bin and several children playing nearby narrowly avoided injured when it exploded.
The Continuity IRA is believed to have a pocket of support in Co Armagh.
REAL IRA
The Real IRA was formed in 1997 when some senior members of the Provisional IRA walked away from an "army convention" meeting in opposition to the ongoing ceasefire.
Led by militant republican Michael McKevitt the organisation went on to carry out bomb and gun attacks.
The paramilitary group's first action was to place a 300lb car bomb in the town of Banbridge, Co Down, in January 1998 but the bomb was defused.
However, it was the Real IRA bombing of the market town of Omagh in August 1998 that caused even the most hardened of republicans to shun the organisation.
The 500lb car bomb killed 29 civilians, including a woman pregnant with twins, and wounded 220 others.
Three days later the Real IRA announced it was suspending all military action and the following month it announced a ceasefire.
In 2000 the organisation called off its ceasefire and was responsible for a number of bombings in Britain, including one outside the the BBC in London in 2001.
In March last year the organisation said it was responsible for shooting two British soldiers outside Massereene army base in Antrim.
In February this year it was responsible for a 250Ib car bomb that exploded outside the courthouse in Newry.
In the same month the Real IRA murdered one of its own members, Derry man Kieran Doherty.
The 31-year-old's body was found semi-naked dumped at the side of the road in a rural area on the outskirts of Derry city.
McKevitt is in Portlaoise serving a jail term for directing terrorism.
He publicly distanced himself from the Real IRA in 2002 when he called on the organisation he had helped form to "stand down".
OGLAIGH NA HEIREANN PROVES MOST ACTIVE
Oglaigh na hEireann has been the most active dissident republican organisation in the past year. Made up of a small group of veteran members of other paramilitary organisations, the group is based mainly in Belfast and south Armagh although more recently it has carried out attacks in Derry.
January 2009:
A 300lb car bomb was discovered at Castlewellan, Co Down, in a car on the Dublin Road. Oglaigh na hEireann said it was responsible for the home-made explosives, which it said were intended for detonation at Ballykinler British army base.
July 2009:
Shots were fired at police lines in disturbances in Ardoyne, north Belfast, following an Orange Order feeder parade past the nationalist interface.
September 2009:
A 600lb bomb found in south Armagh was abandoned near Forkhill. The roadside device had a command wire running from where it had been planted in the north to a firing point across the border.
October 2009:
The girlfriend of a police dog handler who often gave him a lift to work narrowly escaped injury when a bomb exploded under her car in east Belfast.
November 2009:
A 400Ib car bomb was left at the Policing Board headquarters at Clarendon Dock in Belfast.
January 2010:
Catholic officer Peadar Heffron was seriously injured in a car bombing a mile from his home in Randalstown, Co Antrim.
April 2010:
A proxy bomb exploded at Palace Barracks in Holywood, Co Down. The blast coincided with the devolution of policing and justice powers.
July 2010:
A British army major found a booby-trap bomb in the driveway of the Bangor home of a female friend as he tried to drive his car out. It is thought the bomb might have got detached from underneath his vehicle.
A mortar bomb was fired at Strand Road police station in Derry but failed to explode after hitting a perimeter wall.
August 2010:
A former policeman now working as a security guard in a police station escaped unharmed after a booby-trap bomb partially detonated under his car in Cookstown, Co Tyrone.
A taxi driver was hijacked and forced to drive a 250Ib bomb to Strand Road police station in Derry where it exploded, causing significant damage to surrounding property.
The paramilitary group has also claimed responsibility for more than 20 paramilitary-style shootings last year and this year.
It staged an armed 'show of strength' in a west Belfast estate where there had been reports of anti-social behaviour.
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