The head of the Electoral Commission last night said it had not made the decision to withhold parliamentary grants from Sinn Féin.
Sinn Féin is taking court action against the British government because it has not received the money, called a policy development grant, as its MPs refuse to take an oath to Queen Elizabeth.
The grants which had been earmarked for Sinn Féin and amount to £1.1 million over the past three years, have instead been divided between the Ulster Unionist Party, Democratic Unionist Party and the SDLP.
Sinn Féin last year lost a court action to recover the grants.
This week its Fermanagh and South Tyrone MP Michelle Gildernew took the party's case to the Court of Appeal and a ruling is expected later.
Seamus Magee, the head of the commission in Northern Ireland, said it was only responsible for distributing the grants.
"The decision to withhold policy development grants is not one for the commission to make," he said.
"Section 12 of the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000 restricts eligibility for policy development grants to those parties with two or more members in the House of Commons who have made and subscribed to the oath required and are not disqualified from sitting or voting in the House."
