CAMAPAIGNERS confronted the top civil servant in charge of social security on a city centre street yesterday to hand him a report on the impact of new welfare reforms.
Permanent secretary Leo O'Reilly was close to his Belfast office at Causeway Exchange in Bedford Street when he was approached.
Campaigners handed him a copy of the report `Conscious Cruelty, Social Security, Economy and Human Rights' which documents the experience of people in Northern Ireland under the roll out of new welfare reforms.
Last week new laws giving civil servants more powers in the absence of a government have been introduced by Secretary of State Karen Bradley.
The report presented to Mr O'Reilly includes expert policy analysis and recommendations for change.
Its launch at the Spectrum Centre on Shankill Road was attended by Commissioner for Children and Young People Koulla Yiasouma, Human Rights Commission chief executive David Russell, Equality Commission director Darren McKinstry and president of Northern Ireland's Appeals Tribunal John Duffy.
Also present was SDLP assembly member Nichola Mallon.
However no representatives from the Department for Communities attended the launch.
Séan Brady, of Participation and the Practice of Rights (PPR) which commissioned the report, accused the DfC of 'failing to turn up' despite being the body tasked with administering social security and employment programmes.
He led the `Right to Work; Right to Welfare' group visit to the city hall where it had a "positive" meeting with mayor Deirdre Hargey.
They were on their way to Causeway Exchange to seek a meeting with Mr O'Reilly and hand him a copy of the report, when they met him in the street.
One of the campaigners, Tom McWilliams, said the civil servant clearly had not expected to be approached.
His daughter Roisin McWilliams was initially turned down for Personal Independence Payment (PIP) after being diagnosed with Stage 4 cancer and being forced to leave her £1,300-a-month job as a chef because she was struggling to breathe after fracturing her rib from coughing.
Kirsty Scott, who has fibromyalgia and autoimmune thyroid disease, cares for her autistic son and lost another son and her husband within 18 months of each other, said she told the mandarin she was refused Personal Independence Payment and Employment Support Allowance.
"I had no money coming in for three and a half months," she said.
"The system is supposed to be for when you need it. I never claimed for anything until I was at a stage where I had no choice."
The DfC declined to comment on the matter last night.
