Words like "brutal", "vicious" and "undeliverable" have been used to describe the Stormont budget which secretary of state Chris Heaton-Harris is expected to deliver in coming days.
A former head of the civil service, Sir David Sterling, has warned that the situation is "fundamentally undemocratic" and "unconstitutional" because it is falling to unelected civil servants to decide where the axe should fall in their departments.
There is little doubt that the effect on our public services will be stark and likely to affect each of us in some way. It is a depressing truism that cuts are always felt most deeply by the poorest and most vulnerable members of our community.
One group which may not be able to bear any more strain from slashes to public finances is the faithful army of unpaid carers. In many cases these unsung heroes are already desperately close to breaking point, if not already beyond.
They are a vital cog in a health and social care system that is under pressure to an outrageous degree. This includes domiciliary care - the provision of services to support people with illness or disability to live in their own homes.
There are 220,000 unpaid carers in Northern Ireland providing some form of care for a sick or disabled family member or friend, according to Carers NI, and their efforts save the public purse £4.6 billion annually.
This is sacrificial work, often profoundly so, and frequently comes at the expense of a carers' own health, finances and social welfare.
Almost half of carers say they provide 90 hours or more of care each week. This takes place in a huge variety of settings, from a wife looking after her husband who has developed dementia or, as our coverage reported, a parent who has given up work to look after their severely disabled child.
MLAs from the five largest parties have written to the Department of Health's permanent secretary, Peter May, urging him to commission a carers strategy. The last strategy was published in 2006, and one may wonder why MLAs are only joining forces in 2023 when there must have been opportunities before.
Nonetheless, the case for a new strategy is compelling. As the MLAs say, carers "make an immense contribution to society, but in too many cases, what they get in return is a life defined by ill-health, extreme pressure, hardship and lost opportunities".
A compassionate society must be able to support these selfless carers in meaningful ways, for example through respite, help with additional heating and electric costs or opportunities for self-care. Our carers need cared for too.
