There is perhaps an air of unreality about the scale of cuts proposed across the public sector following the recent budget imposed by Secretary of State Chris Heaton-Harris.
There has until now been a hope, misplaced or otherwise, that the coming months will see the DUP finally abandon its deeply damaging boycott of the devolved institutions and allow the Stormont parties to return to the jobs they were elected to do.
History suggests that may also be accompanied by an injection of funds from London in recognition of the unique pressures facing politics and the public purse in this region.
But with summer holidays fast approaching and the rhetoric around the Windsor Framework largely unchanged, the prospects of a speedy restoration of power-sharing appear to be receding.
That means civil servants facing the prospect of implementing brutal cuts across a range of public services to find savings required to remain within radically reduced budgets.
The reality for one crucial area, education, was laid bare this week in a report by a group of academics seeking to highlight the short and long-term implications of savage cutbacks on such a shocking scale.
The authors describe the picture they paint as "unremittingly bleak", as spending per pupil falls behind the rest of the UK and Ireland
In fact, it is difficult to conceive of a more devastating verdict: "Our overarching conclusion is that the cuts will increase poverty, widen existing educational achievement gaps, further exacerbate NI’s mental health crisis and send Special Education Needs provision beyond the brink of collapse."
The Education Authority is facing a funding gap of £200 million and the report warns that cuts are likely disproportionately impact the most educationally disadvantaged children.
Examples include slashing holiday hunger payments, support for school uniform costs and funding for digital devices.
Principals meanwhile say they have been left with almost no money once staffing costs are taken out, putting pressure on hard-pressed parents to contribute more to school funds.
The authors rightly point out that short-term savings are likely to be dwarfed by the costs of greater poverty, deprivation and mental health issues in the long run, while the lack of input from elected representatives also a subversion of democratic principles.
We know that education is the foundation to equal opportunity, economic prosperity and wider stability in society.
It can only be hoped the DUP use the weeks ahead to consider the terrible damage being done to the next generation.
