BARONESS Jean Denton, the North's Minister with responsibility for fair employment, has been criticised over a sectarian harassment case involving a Catholic woman working in her private office.
Baroness Dent on suggested the transfer from her office of the civil servant who later received £10,000 from the Department of Agriculture for Northern Ireland (DANI) after it admitted she had been the victim of sectarian harassment.
She has denied the transfer had anything to do with the harassment action which she said was not lodged until after the woman had taken up her new post.
The woman's complaint that she had been harassed by the minister's private secretary, Ms Alvina Saunders, in July 1995, was supported by the Fair Employment Commission.
She complained she had felt harassed after Ms Saunders, a Protestant, watched television reports on Drumcree in July 1995 and reported to her colleagues that the Orangemen had been allowed to parade through a largely nationalist area.
The case was settled last January by DANI, which acknowledged that it had "failed to promote a good and harmonious working environment and atmosphere".
The woman was transferred shortly after the incident took place. She is currently on a career break in England.
The SDLP deputy leader, Mr Seamus Mallon, said it was very worrying that a civil servant in Baroness Denton's office should be involved in sectarian harassment.
Mr Mallon, who tabled a parliamentary question on the issue, said the fact that Ms Saunders remained in the office caused "grave disquiet".
Sinn Fein's chairman, Mr Mitchel McLaughlin, said he would raise the role Baroness Denton played in the transfer of the woman with US Congress members when he visits the US later this month.
Baroness Denton is the Minister at the Department of Agriculture and the Department of Economic Development which has responsibility for fair employment and equal opportunities.
In a statement on the issue, she said she had been concerned between May and July 1995 about "operational difficulties" in her private office which were affecting its efficiency. She said she requested the matter should be resolved by officials and suggested an alternative posting for a juniors member of staff. "There had been no suggestion whatsoever of sectarian harassment at this stage," she said.
The matter was then dealt with by department officials who decided that a transfer for the civil, servant was the most appropriate measure. The sectarian harassment claim was lodged after the transfer, she said.