This week abuse victims were granted permission to challenge the failure of the authorities to implement the findings of the Historical Institutional Abuse (HIA) inquiry.
Lawyers representing a group of those abused in children's homes have issued proceedings against the secretary of state and the executive office claiming both bodies have the legal powers and duties to step in and ensure compensation is paid.
This matter will now be subject to judicial process but it must be a matter of considerable regret that victims are having to turn to the courts to progress an issue that has already been the subject of a statutory inquiry.
It is more than a year since retired judge Sir Anthony Hart published his report on the appalling treatment of children in the care of the state.
His recommendations not only proposed payments but also other measures to help those who were so comprehensively failed over decades.
The HIA report came out shortly after the collapse of the Stormont executive but given the broad political support for the victims, there is every reason to believe that a devolved administration, if it had been in place, would have acted on the findings.
Fifteen months on and this has become an increasingly acute issue for abuse survivors, many of whom
are in poor health.
As we know, a number of those who gave evidence to the inquiry have sadly passed away, underlining the urgency of this matter and the importance of finding a way of delivering on the report.
Time is not on the side of many survivors who endured dreadful trauma and deserve redress.
