Sinn Féin MEP Bairbre de Brún and North Belfast councillor Carál Ní Chuilín have criticised a DUP-led motion, which claimed European Peace funding was biased against Protestants.
DUP councillor Christopher Stalford proposed the motion in Belfast City Council at its July monthly meeting.
The motion welcomed the extension of peace and reconciliation funding initially but went on to say that Catholics received more than Protestants under the previous funding programmes.
It also called on the Special European Union Programmes Body to redress the alleged imbalance. An Alliance amendment proposed the council welcome the European Commission decision to continue funding. However at a 15-vote tie, the DUP Lord Mayor exercised his second vote and defeated the motion.
Christopher Stalford's original motion was put to the floor and was passed by 15 votes to 12 with a crucial three no votes by Alliance councillors.
Sinn Féin MEP Bairbre de Brún said claims of anti-unionist bias in the allocation of Peace funding were without foundation and must be challenged publicly.
"The irony will be not lost on people that the DUP are diametrically opposed to the peace process, yet engage without difficulty when it comes to funding secured as a result of the process of conflict resolution in Ireland," the MEP said.
"The DUP have been running the line recently that unionists have been discriminated against through the allocation and distribution of Peace funding.
"I am publicly challenging the DUP on this. Funding has been distributed on the basis of need, and can only be based on such criteria in future."
Sinn Féin councillor Carál Ní Chuilín said she was disappointed with the result of the council motion.
"The Sinn Féin group in Belfast City Council vigorously opposed the motion by DUP councillors on Monday evening. This is another in a long line of attempts by the DUP to portray the unionist community as being consistently disadvantaged and discriminated against in favour of the Catholic community. Their stunts will not wash with the ordinary people of Belfast who recognise that disadvantage and deprivation affect all communities in the city."
