Public service union Nipsa has reacted angrily to comments by a Sinn Féin assembly member that the party intends not only "putting manners" on the PSNI, but also on "the entire civil service".
General secretary John Corey, said all civil and public servants were "bound by strict codes of conduct requiring integrity, impartiality and honesty" and added that there was a complaints procedure for anyone who was dissatisfied with their conduct.
"All civil and public servants are bound by strict codes of conduct requiring integrity, impartiality and honesty. Civil servants are accountable to ministers of the day or to the elected authorities and not to individual political parties," he added.
During a radio interview yesterday (Wednesday) Mr O'Dowd described Chief Constable Hugh Orde and the police as public servants.
"The public elects politicians to ensure public servants are answerable, " the Upper Bann assembly member added.
"It is the role of every political party to put manners on public servants. It is Sinn Féin's intention to put manners on the entire civil service, to anyone who is there working for the community and the people... they need to be ensuring they understand one thing, they are there working for the people."
The Association of Teachers and Lecturers which represents teachers, lecturers, technicians, librarians and classroom assistants called on all politicians to be "temperate in their language".
"We need to hear no more about putting manners on civil servants and especially from a party which acquiesced in the Regeneration and Reform Initiative, an initiative that will see thousands of public sector jobs lost to privatization," ATL Director in Northern Ireland Mark Langhammer said.
Meanwhile, the family of murdered father-of-two Robert McCartney has questioned why Mr O'Dowd "begrudgingly" called on people with information on the killing to go to police.
Asked yesterday if he would encourage such people to contact the PSNI Mr O'Dowd responded: "Sinn Féin has in the past, after the murder of Robert McCartney, and continued to call on people to bring forward any information they have... after Sunday's Ard Fheis people should bring that information forward to the PSNI.
The dead man's sister Paula McCartney welcomed his statement but said it was "nowhere near enough".
"I would call on Sinn Féin and its members to hand over to the police any information they have and everyone will follow that example.
"John O'Dowd has said this very begrudgingly and I'd like to know why. The only way it can be measured is when police say there's a development in the investigation, that's the only way we'll know Sinn Féin are sincere."
And last night, after being challenged by the Republic's justice minister Michael McDowell Gerry Adams too called for people to go to the police if they knew anything about the murder.
