Presenter Paul McFadden made his comments about the project designed to attract tourists to the area, which saw its fair share of the Troubles and includes some of the most deprived communities in Northern Ireland.

At the start of his programme yesterday, the broadcaster said he had heard that Department of Enterprise Trade and Industry Minister Arlene Foster was going to the Shankill to help launch the area as a distinct tourist destination, with its own branded T-shirt.

He is reported to have added as an aside: "I know where she got the T-shirt. She ripped it off Johnny Adair's dog."

The UDA leader was infamous for dressing his German shepherd dogs in paramilitary T-shirts in staged publicity stunts, but the crack has angered people involved in the rebranding of the area, who feel the presenter was harking back to the 'bad old days'.

Mrs Foster said making comments alluding to elements of the Shankill's turbulent history on the day of the launch of a tourist initiative promoting a friendly and warm place to visit, was "not just unhelpful" but "absolutely distasteful".

She said: "I'm very disappointed that somebody who works for the BBC would say something like that. I'm excited about this new brand for the Shankill because they are not looking backward, they are looking forward, and then somebody makes comments such as that. He should retract his comments and make an apology, or else the BBC should step in and apologise on his behalf.

"For him to demean it (the brand) in that way is really poor. The people here have worked very hard to build something new, while not forgetting the past or shying away from the difficult times the Shankill has been through."

Local councillor Diane Dodds said: "It's great to see a community like the Shankill taking the opportunity to market itself and to do so in a positive way and it's just outrageous for Paul McFadden to say that. I'm just appalled. The BBC need to seriously look at what they're at and offer an apology."

A spokesperson for BBC Northern Ireland said: "The Paul McFadden Show begins most days with the presenter giving a sideways and sometimes ironic commentary on the day's news stories and developments.

"No offence was intended."