There have been warnings for months about the perilous state of our public finances and how the swingeing cuts which Stormont departments are expected to make will disproportionately affect the most vulnerable in our society.
Indeed, one of the reasons the DUP should bring its senseless boycott of the assembly to an end is to give MLAs and an executive the chance to make decisions about the matters which directly affect the lives of the people who voted for them.
But in the absence of any sort of locally elected government, civil servants have been left in the invidious position of having to decide which desperately needed services are to be axed in the new financial year, which starts just next week.
In the assessment of the NI Fiscal Council, Stormont's finances face a 6.4 per cent cut for 2023-24.
We are already seeing the disastrous effects of this. The Department of Health, for example, has said it isn't able to make a pay offer to health and social care workers because it has been given no budget for next year and is anticipating "high-impact cuts" in its allocation.
Our children are caught up in the crisis, too. Schools are already facing into an intensely difficult period, and now the Department of Education has said it is "with great reluctance" having to end 'holiday hunger' payments.
These have been a vital support for the 96,000 children entitled to free school meals since the scheme was introduced in July 2020. It gave families £27 per child each fortnight to help with the cost of food during school holidays.
The School Holiday Food Grants scheme is being closed on the eve of the Easter school holidays. Everything possible should be done to reinstate the scheme.
The Department of Education is also stopping its 'Healthy Happy Minds' primary school mental health and counselling scheme and its Engage programme, which has helped children with their learning after the pandemic.
While vulnerable children in the north are losing support, in the Republic the government has committed to giving every schoolchild a free hot meal by 2030.
As social protection minister Heather Humphreys observed: "Providing nutritious meals does wonders for our children's wellbeing, their concentration and their physical and mental health."
The dispiriting truth is that in Northern Ireland, we will hear of more cuts to services in the coming days and weeks. Many will echo the thoughts of SDLP MLA Daniel McCrossan that "these are the real world consequences of a failing political system".
