An employee at the Royal is being questioned by police

A serious breach of trust has occurred if it is proved dissident republicans used hospital records to gather intelligence, the Policing Board vice-chairman has said.

Denis Bradley was speaking after it was alleged the Real IRA was using records at the Royal Victoria Hospital to target members of the Policing Board, district policing partnerships, politicians and police officers.

The police said five people had been arrested.

The hospital said an employee was being questioned about a "serious breach of patient confidentiality".

One of the names on the alleged list gathered by republicans is that of Professor Desmond Rea, chairman of the Policing Board.

The board's vice chairman, Denis Bradley, said it was "intelligence gathering at the worst possible level".

Mark Durkan: Allegations would be "source of grievance"

"If it is true, then serious damage has been done to the confines and the sanctuary that is a major hospital for Belfast and the whole region," he said.

"Staff have a right to be shocked, annoyed and outraged."

Nigel Dodds MP of the Democratic Unionist Party said the alleged breach demonstrated that the republican movement is "actively engaged in intelligence gathering and targeting and is in fact prepared to step up its terrorist activities".

He added: "Whilst the finger of blame is being pointed at the Real IRA, the question that must now be posed is could such an operation be mounted in west Belfast without the full knowledge and co-operation of the Provisional IRA.

"The discovery of this latest spy ring after the Stormont and Castlereagh intelligence operations demonstrates the need for security to be increased and better resourced rather than continuing with the joint declaration policy of security decimation."

SDLP leader Mark Durkan said such allegations would be a "source of grievance and worry to staff, patients and management at the Royal Group of Hospitals".

He added: "If they are true, along with recent bomb attempts they confirm that so called dissident republicans remain locked into the futile policy of destruction and subversion."

The hospital said the employee arrested had access to password-guarded records and would be dismissed if the allegations were proven.