THE UNION which represents many Northern Ireland civil servants has sharply criticised Sports Minister Edwin Poots for his claim that officials have tried to block a £100 million scheme to develop the former Maze prison site into a sports stadium.
Mr Poots said: "There have been those within the civil service who have been opposed to the project at the Maze right from its conception and I have to say that a lot of the work that has been done within the civil service has been to stop it - and that has been the case both before devolution and during devolution."
However, John Corey, head of the Northern Ireland Public Service Alliance (Nipsa), said "civil servants are bound by a strict code of ethics requiring the highest standards of integrity, honesty, objectivity and impartiality".
"I believe it was unfair and wrong for the Minister to have criticised civil servants publicly on this matter.
"If a Minister considers that any individual civil servant has not acted in line with the code of ethics that matter should be dealt with internally, not aired in public by the Minister," he said.
The Maze development plans include a stadium to be shared by soccer, rugby and GAA authorities, as well as a controversial scheme to redevelop a retained prison H-block as a conflict resolution centre.
Mr Poots is thought to favour the plans but there is widespread unionist opposition and the scheme appears doomed amid rising DUP fears over the spiralling costs of such a development and the creation of a "shrine to terror".
Sinn Féin's Barry McElduff said the Minister, if he held such fears about civil servants, should have raised them with the Assembly much earlier.
Mr Poots may not be retained as Minister at the Department of Culture, Arts and Leisure after a limited reshuffle of the Executive is announced next week.
Peter Robinson's appointment as First Minister is expected to trigger a reshuffle to fill the vacancy he leaves at Finance.
Mr Poots could be a victim of such a process and lose his seat in the Executive.