Record company managers yesterday distanced the chart-topping boy band Westlife from the decision to take part in this year's poppy appeal, following criticism from Sinn Fein.
The Irish group helped to publicise the Royal British Legion's annual drive for funds on Sunday. Mr Matt Carthy, national organiser of Sinn Fein Youth, said it was wrong for an Irish band to support the initiative, given the history of the British army's involvement in Ireland.
RCA Records said it made the decision to become involved in the appeal. "RCA Records, on behalf of their pop act Westlife, would like to make it clear that the decision to involve Westlife in the Poppy Appeal was entirely that of the record company.
"RCA Records were following a tradition of involving high-profile celebrities supporting charity organisations."
Mr Carthy, a Monaghan district councillor, asked how Westlife could justify its decision "to those relatives whose loved ones have been killed by the British army". He called on the group to withdraw its support.
"At a time when all concerned are working to heal the scars of decades of conflict, Westlife's decision is insensitive in the extreme," he said.
Ulster Unionists accused Sinn Fein of engaging in a "silly outdated protest". Mr Jeffrey Donaldson MP said Sinn Fein was "constantly "harping on about how they are victims, but they constantly insult the memory of the thousands of people who died in two world wars - many of them Irishmen - by making this kind of silly out-dated protest."