Sinn Féin and the SDLP have voiced concern at the appointment by the Northern Ireland Office of an Interim Commissioner for Victims and Survivors of the Troubles.
The new commissioner is Bertha McDougall, the widow of a murdered RUC reserve officer. In her first public appearance yesterday, she said that her door would be open to anyone who wanted to make a submission.
Sinn Féin has questioned the transparency of the appointment process while the SDLP has advocated a victims' forum, where all interest groups could speak out.
Mrs McDougall said yesterday that she was not concerned that only the DUP had welcomed her appointment.
Philip McGuigan, a Sinn Féin Assembly member, said: "The fact that no victims' groups seem to have been consulted on this appointment is not a good sign. Sinn Féin are also seeking a meeting with Mrs McDougall. The bottom line is that the new victims' commissioner must seek to represent all victims equally."
The SDLP's Patricia Lewsley admitted that no one individual commissioner could hope to have the confidence of every victim. However, she added: "If government is serious about parity of esteem for all victims, then it should not be consulting with, or seeking the approval of, one political party only for an appointment. That undermines confidence not just to victims, but to the whole of society . . ."
Mrs McDougall, appearing yesterday alongside Northern Secretary Peter Hain, accepted that some political criticism was inevitable.
"I think that we have to acknowledge that, whoever wants to take up this interim appointment, there would have been comment right across the range of political parties," she told The Irish Times.
"I would expect parties obviously to make comment. That is their role. My role as interim commissioner will be to reflect on the views of victims and survivors."
Regarding nationalist concerns over her nomination, she said: "Many of the victims and survivors in [a previous] consultation indicated that they thought that someone with a personal loss should be a commissioner.
"I think we have to realise that whoever that appointment might have been would have been in a difficult position. So I would say to them that I have said my door is open. I will listen carefully and sensitively to what is being said and I would ask them to give me the opportunity to work through this with them.
"I have not defined a victim. That is not within my remit. My door will be open to anyone who wishes to make representation."
Mr Hain emphasised that Mrs McDougall's appointment was to an interim position for a period of one year. He described her as "the best person for the job" to help victims and survivors "feel that their voice is being listened to".
Referring to criticisms about the manner of the appointment, he added: "I say to anybody who has reservations, questions about process or criticisms to make, just allow Mrs McDougall to do her job."