The Ulster Democratic Party met the Sentence Review Commission yesterday to discuss the release of loyalist prisoners affiliated to the party.
Almost 130 UDA/UFF prisoners are among 418 paramilitary prisoners who have applied for early release under the Belfast Agreement.
The leader of the UDP, Mr Gary McMichael, and the party's prison spokesman, Mr John White, were criticised for holding the meeting at the same time as grieving families in Omagh buried the last of the victims of last Saturday's bomb attack.
The UDP defended its decision to hold its meeting with the prisoner release body and pointed out that the day release of four UDA prisoners, who had been expected to attend the meeting, was abandoned as a mark of respect for victims of the bomb.
"Our thoughts are as much with the families in Omagh as anyone's. I empathise completely because my family has been subject to the trauma of having a family member murdered by terrorists. Under no circumstances did we want to seem insensitive in any way," said Mr McMichael.
The scheduled meeting was one of a series that the commission is holding with political parties and groups affiliated to prisoners of the Provisional IRA, UVF and the UDA/UFF, all of whom are eligible for early release.
"We wanted to hear from the commission exactly how it intends to operate and what we should expect in the days and weeks ahead," said Mr White.
"The prisoner-release programme is an important element of the Good Friday agreement. It is pivotal that it keeps moving along. The UDP is trying to help prevent loyalist paramilitaries going down the same road as republicans; we are trying to prevent splits," he added.
Commenting on the possibility of loyalist retaliation after the Omagh bombing, Mr McMichael said he had no indication, particularly not from the UDA, that there was any inclination to respond to the actions of the `Real IRA'.
"I think at this moment in time people are shocked into silence about what has taken place and are trying to absorb the enormity of what has happened. But I would be very sceptical as to whether those who are involved in the bombing have any concept of humanity. We just don't know what they are going to do next," he said.
The commission is processing 359 of the applications received and is expected to have a huge administrative workload over the next few months.