The decision by the Northern Ireland minister for culture, arts and leisure to expand a review of Ulster Museum “to consider matters such as curatorial interpretation and presentation” has been criticised by Mark Taylor, director of the Museums Association.

Democratic Unionist politician Nelson McCausland has requested that the evaluation of the £17.9m refurbishment of the museum, which reopened in 2009, encompasses curatorial issues.

“This is a slippery slope,” said Taylor. “It’s obviously not a black-and-white issue because museums do not operate in a vacuum detached from their audiences. But it is a government’s responsibility to cover corporate planning, strategy and finance, and not make professional decisions about displays.”

National Museums Northern Ireland (NMNI), which is undertaking the appraisal, said: “As part of an ongoing development, and with a view to building upon the achievements at Ulster Museum, a wide-ranging evaluation of the refurbishment project is being undertaken, which will include peer reviews of permanent gallery content and approaches.”

Last spring McCausland wrote to the NMNI trustees calling for more prominence to be given to the Ulster-Scots story and the Orange Order in NMNI displays, particularly the 2010 Plantation to Power Sharing exhibition at Ulster Museum.

“I raised these issues to ensure that national museums’ exhibitions fully reflect the historical, cultural, religious and political rights of all citizens of Northern Ireland within the context of a shared future,” said McCausland.

An NMNI spokesman said that the permanent galleries at Ulster Museum have not been changed since it reopened in October 2009.

McCausland has also called on Ulster Museum to recognise creationism as an alternative view of the origin of the universe.