MEMBERS of the Association of Higher Civil Servants (AHCS) in the Department of Agriculture have written to their general secretary over support voiced for Mrs Owen.
Their letter expressed amazement and serious concern at the issuing of a press statement on behalf of the association, expressing support for the Minister for Justice.
The press statement was issued through the AHCS head office last Friday in defence of the Minister in the controversy over the release and rearrest of 16 high security prisoners.
It said she was "one of the most personable, able and hardworking Ministers we have ever had the privilege of working with".
It added that she was being made a "political scapegoat over an administrative error".
A letter from the secretary of the Agriculture Branch, Mr Kevin Cassidy, said that the statement expressing support for the Minister could possibly be "at the expense of our AHCS members who may be involved in the controversy".
It is the feeling of this branch that it is not within the rem it of the AHCS to either support or condemn individual ministers in the manner in which the statement was worded, on behalf of this association.
"Furthermore it has seriously called into question the independence and impartiality of the Civil Service, which have been its hallmark since the foundation of the State."
The statement continued: "Indeed, to enter this particular fray at a time when there are moves afoot to fundamentally alter the Ministers and Secretaries Acts and to introduce new and far-reaching changes to the current conditions of service of all civil servants, was foolhardy and wills possibly disadvantage us in any negotiations for adequate recompense for entertaining such changes.
Mr Cassidy said the union should examine what had happened "in the cold light of day and, after the current controversy has abated, to ensure that we doe not have such a similar reaction in the future".
The general secretary of the association, Mr Sean O Riordain, said last night he was aware of the letter.
He understood the concerns of his members in Agriculture but felt it had been overtaken by his own comments on RTE's This Week programme on Sunday, when he had apologised for the statement on behalf of members - in the Department of Justice.
The Friday statement had expressed legitimate concerns about issues such as staffing levels in Justice. It had intruded in one paragraph into the political dimension. "I regret it. It shouldn't have happened.
"But in the new climate of accountability the members concerned didn't wish to be seen to be hiding behind the skirts of the Minister for a botch."
Mr O Riordain had been in Denmark on union business when the statement was issued.
"At the first opportunity I put on record our regrets on RTE," he said last night.
He had discussed the statement with his colleagues in the Department of Justice and he was satisfied that the letter "wasn't sent out with the intention of intruding into the political domain. But obviously, from what people are saying, it did intrude".
He said that former Fianna Fail ministers had raised it, which they had a perfectly legitimate right to do.
But some of them knew from their own experience that the people concerned were not party-political in any sense.
The AHCS is co-operating with the inquiry into how the error had arisen, Mr O Riordain said.
It had done so after being given guarantees that the principles of natural justice would be observed.
People were assuming it was a member of the AHCS who had, been responsible for the "administrative glitch" at the centre of the controversy, but a whole range of staff in other unions were also involved in the inquiry, he said.