A DUP minister and four party colleagues visited a Shankill community office less than 24 hours after a BBC Spotlight investigation claimed it was an unofficial headquarters of the UDA.
Minister for Communities Paul Givan posed for pictures along with MP Nigel Dodds in the offices of the Lower Shankill Community Association (LCSA) on Wednesday.
Belfast councillor Frank McCoubrey, Lord Mayor Brian Kingston and assembly member William Humpreys were also present.
Loyalist community workers from the Shankill including Denis Cunningham and Ian McLaughlin posed beside the DUP minister and posted the picture on social media.
Mr Cunningham, a member of the Ulster Political Research Group, was jailed in 2005 after pleading guilty to membership of the UFF.
The charge followed a press conference in 2002 when he read a statement out on behalf of the organisation wearing his glasses over a balaclava.
Several community workers with no links to the UDA were also pictured with the minister.
The visit on Wednesday came within hours of the organisation featuring on a BBC Spotlight programme which raised questions about what the government-funded office was being used for.
The investigation interviewed a member of the west Belfast UDA who claimed that the offices of the LSCA, while carrying out legitimate community development work, were also being used as "UDA headquarters, C Company headquarters, that's where it all happens from".
"You've a problem with the UDA you go to the offices," he told Spotlight reporters.
In 2013, leading loyalist William 'Mo' Courtney was found guilty of common assault after headbutting Tracey Coulter in the offices of the LSCA.
Courtney, who has been linked to the murder of solicitor Pat Finucane, has a conviction for the manslaughter of UDA member Alan McCullough.
He is not a paid worker of the LSCA but is often seen in the organisation's offices.
The Irish News asked the Department for Communities the purpose of the visit to the LSCA and when it was placed in the minister's diary.
A spokesperson said: "We can confirm that this was a pre-planned visit at the request of the local MLA.
"The purpose for the minister's visit was to discuss void housing and the department's Building Successful Communities (BSC) initiative across the three local pilot areas, namely, Lower Shankill & Brown Square, Lower Oldpark & Hillview and Tigers Bay & Mountcollyer."
