In a week when the world's most powerful politician led celebrations of the progress made in the 25 years since the Good Friday Agreement, the axing of a scheme providing free books to babies is a sobering reminder of the realities of life for many in this society.
The Bookstart Baby programme has been providing more than 20,000 families in Northern Ireland with a pack of books and reading advice each year.
Delivered through health visitors, the laudable aim is to encourage a love of reading from a young age and for parents to play their part in establishing a healthy learning environment for babies and young children.
Confirming support for the scheme in 2019, former education minister Michelle McIlveen spoke of the enormous benefits of reading with a child, from building confidence to developing creativity and communication skills.
The programme was particularly important during the Covid pandemic when access to educational resources was curtailed.
The department has been contributing £75,000 towards the annual cost, yet even that sum – a tiny proportion of the overall education budget – has now become a casualty of savage cuts to public services.
With the Book Trust saying it can no longer afford to give every baby a book, Northern Ireland is now set to be the only region of the UK not to do so.
This is despite the fact that the problem of educational underachievement, disproportionately affecting deprived communities, has been identified as a priority by successive education ministers.
The loss of the Bookstart programme will be felt most by those families most at a time when they are already struggling to meet inflated food and energy bills.
The department has cited budget cuts, with hundreds of millions of pounds expected to be slashed from public finances this year.
Children have already been hit by the end of 'holiday hunger' payments, which provided support with food bills for those entitled to free school meals.
Shamefully, funding is also being withdrawn from a mental health and counselling scheme and a programme helping pupils catch up after the pandemic.
At a time when the world is being told about the benefits of a quarter of a century of peace, it seems incredible that the next generation is paying the price for ongoing political instability.
With the prospect of further cuts to vital services on the horizon, it is essential an executive is restored immediately before further irreparable damage is done.
