While all eyes are on Westminster and the chaos and drama surrounding Brexit, it is the lack of political activity at Stormont that is causing alarm bells to be sounded over the implications for jobs and the wider economy of Northern Ireland.
A stark warning was issued this week by the Construction Employers Federation (CEF) which published the findings of a survey that should be giving our political parties pause for thought.
The key message from the survey of 80 Northern Ireland-headquartered companies - which between them do nearly £1 billion of business - is that 'a market recession is likely, if not already happening'.
Concerns have been growing recently over a global financial slowdown, fuelled by Donald Trump's trade war with China, Brexit uncertainty and difficulties in certain countries and we must hope that political action is taken to lessen those recession fears.
In a small economy such as Northern Ireland's we will inevitably be affected by events outside our control but we must also ensure we are taking the right decisions to maintain employment levels and build a strong business base.
Construction is just one sector but it is an important one and a crucial indicator of the state of our economy.
According to this latest survey, 60 per cent of respondents think the local construction market will worsen in the next 12 months, 28 per cent have made redundancies with a further 48 per cent considering this step likely before Christmas, and only 35 per cent are at full capacity, down from 75 per cent in February.
CEF managing director John Armstrong said the industry was reporting 'alarming increases in redundancies and projected redundancies' since February when the survey was last conducted.
He points out that while the restoration of the executive cannot alone solve this problem, it can put in place a pipeline of work which can provide certainty to the markets.
Issues such as the underfunding of NI Water, which is having a knock on effect on the building of new homes, clearly need to be addressed as a matter of urgency.
It is common sense to have the infrastructure in place to support building projects and anticipated demand by the public.
The warning this week on jobs and business from the construction sector must be taken seriously.
