An Orange Order member of the North's Parades Commission has been urged to resign after an SDLP Assembly member found he had used her name as a referee in his application without asking her permission.
Donald McKay was one of two Portadown Orangemen appointed last November by Northern Secretary Peter Hain to the board which rules on contested parades.
Dolores Kelly, an Assembly member for Upper Bann which includes Portadown, said last night that Mr McKay had written to apologise.
However, she said his position was untenable and that Mr Hain had to find explanations. "I'm amazed no-one in the Northern Ireland office contacted me before he [ Mr McKay] was appointed," she said.
"It doesn't make sense that a nationalist representative for Portadown, of all places, would nominate a member of the Orange Order to the Parades Commission when our positions on parades, sectarianism and the Drumcree march have been so far apart." She said his use of her name as a referee was discovered "quite by chance". Party officials had been discussing the commission with the NIO when the revelation was made.
For his part, Mr McKay said he had used Ms Kelly's name because they had both served on Craigavon Borough Council.
The Northern Ireland Office said last night: "Appointments were made on the basis of candidates successfully displaying competence across a range of areas. References were not sought for any of the candidates and the appointment procedure was regulated by the office of the commissioner for public appointments."