There has yet to be absolute confirmation that the closure of the Extern charity's Intensive Family Support Service (IFSS), which was announced yesterday, was a direct result of the Stormont collapse.
However, there will be a widespread belief that the publicly-funded scheme, which was designed to help 235 families cope with issues including poverty, mental health and addiction, might well have been given a reprieve if the Executive was still in place.
It is essential that the options of reviving the project, where almost 50 jobs have been lost, or transferring its duties to other agencies, are kept under careful review by the authorities.
Sadly, there will also be a strong suspicion that Extern will not be the only respected group which suffers from the loss of resources in the coming months.
