Northern Ireland First Minister Michelle O'Neill has called on Communities Minister Gordon Lyons to resign over a social media post he sent regarding the use of Larne Leisure Centre yesterday.
Ms O'Neill accused Mr Lyons of "inflaming tensions" and failing to show proper leadership.
Mr Lyons has been criticised for a social media post about the use of Larne Leisure Centre as a respite centre before it was attacked.
The centre was left badly damaged after masked youths pulled bins to the entrance of the building and set them alight last night.
The fire spread to the interior, which was extensively damaged, and windows were also smashed.
Two ethnic minority families who had been forced from their homes during public disorder in Ballymena the previous evening had been offered temporary overnight shelter at the leisure centre, but had left during the day yesterday.
In his social media post, Mr Lyons said that as a representative for the area, he had not been told of the plan.
He said the families had left the centre and he urged calm.
However, his comments were branded as "reckless", with other politicians claiming he had highlighted the use of the centre as temporary accommodation.
The SDLP said it would refer his post to Stormont's Standards Commissioner.
Sinn Féin said that it would raise the issue at the Stormont Communities Committee today.
Mr Lyons has rejected the criticisms and said the information was already in the public domain prior to his post.
He said he was trying to quash online misinformation and divert a planned protest, and accused political opponents who are calling for his resignation of opportunism.
"This was an attempt to diffuse some tensions," he told BBC, adding that the police had asked a party colleague to spread the word that those who had been there had moved on.
Alliance MLA Danny Donnelly, who was in the leisure centre when it was attacked, described those responsible as a "racist mob".
He told RTÉ's Morning Ireland that a number of people had been in a yoga class when a brick came through one of the windows.
"I've been down this morning and there's extensive fire damage to the front of the building, it's going to be out of action for quite a while," he said.
"This is our town leisure centre that has been gutted at the front of it. It was absolutely disgusting."
