The bombshell report - by the influential Rand Corporation - is likely to re-ignite the controversy over the Provos' links with the Marxist FARC movement.

The report - on the sharing of information between various subversive organisations around the world and its impact on US security - comes as Sinn Fein failed to live up to pre-poll predictions in the Republic's general election.

While much of the report investigating the links relies on previously-published material - which claimed IRA members trained FARC in the use of mortars and other technology - it goes further by linking cash raised in Colombia to Sinn Fein and its election campaigns.

The IRA reportedly received $$2m in exchange for training FARC, as the rural-based organisation wanted to step up its campaign in urban areas.

The report, which draws on published documents and private interviews with security officials in Ulster, concludes: "The IRA . . . may have seen the opportunity to advise FARC as a new source of funding. British intelligence has speculated that PIRA could have received as much as $$2m for its efforts, which would make up for some of the losses suffered as a result of reductions in funds collected from US sources."

It continued by linking the alleged FARC cash to Sinn Fein.

"The costs of running a nationwide organisation such as Sinn Fein, which boasts 1,500 election workers, is expensive and the group's criminal operations may not be enough to sustain it militarily and politically."

While the Rand Corporation says the expertise FARC gained led directly to the deaths of hundreds, the IRA has never admitted its members were involved in training the rebels.

Three men - Martin McCauley, James Monaghan and Niall Connolly - were arrested as they attempted to leave Colombia using false documents in August 2001.

They were initially acquitted of training FARC, but convicted of travelling on false documents. As prosecutors appealed, the three were freed and went into hiding.

They have consistently denied training FARC and claimed they were in the country to learn about the stalled peace process there and to educate the movement's leaders about Ireland. Following the appeal, which overturned the acquittals, the three did not come out of hiding and later returned to Ireland.

The Rand Corporation was set up 60 years ago to advise the US military, with which it still has close links, but it has since expanded to become one of the most influential advisory bodies in the country.

Senior White House officials, such as Secretary of State Condaleeza Rice and former Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, have close connections to the think-tank.

The report baldly states that the IRA became involved with FARC for other reasons apart from the cash.

These included using the FARC-controlled zone to test weapons. The report states that, in spite of denials by the 'Colombia Three', authorities in the troubled South American country began noticing an improvement in FARC's ability to carry out more sophisticated operations.

"Beginning in early 2001, FARC began intensifying its operations, killing more than 400 members of the Colombian armed forces in 18 months, using car-bombs, secondary devices and homemade mortars."

While the Rand Corporation promotes itself as an objective think-tank, some critics argue it has too close ties to the military-industrial complex in the US.

The report suggests that the IRA linked up with FARC because funding from America was drying up after the events of September 11, 2001.

Yet the Colombia Three were taken into custody weeks before 9/11, while elsewhere the report concludes that IRA members were travelling to the South American country from 1998.

Nevertheless, the IRA/FARC link continues to be controversial in spite of the huge progress made in the Ulster peace process. During the general election campaign, outgoing Justice Minister Michael McDowell and Sinn Fein President Gerry Adams were involved in a tetchy exchange that included a reference to the Colombia connection.

When Adams expressed concern about the drug problem in Ireland, the Progressive Democrat leader accused the republican movement of being willing to sell "Provo know-how" to "narco-terrorists" for $$25m - a figure never before alleged.

The Rand report - Sharing The Dragon's Teeth: Terrorist Groups And The Exchange of New Technologies - also investigates links between different organisations in other parts of world, including South-East Asia and Palestine.