The likely effects of the tough budgetry measures adopted by the Northern Ireland Executive in all departments are beginning to be realised by the public.

We’ve heard about the serious implications for healthcare, where some of the most vulnerable in society are likely to be affected and also in education where are expected to be cuts in student intakes to our two universities.

While some of those cuts are not instantly transparent, the most obvious cutbacks have already been noticed in our community.

The streets in some of our towns and village are in darkness, simply because the Department for Regional Development cannot afford to repair or replace the street lights.

At least three West Fermanagh towns, Derrygonnelly, Garrison and Belcoo are suffering from pockets of darkness where some lights are not now working which has an affect on the lives of children and senior citizens, according to a local councillor.

He says a lack of proper lighting is likely to result in an increased number of falls with expensive, painful stays in hospital for some of the most vulnerable people in their community.

Anywhere without street lighting is also susceptible to lower levels of security and increases the risk of anti-social behaviour.

But this non-repair of broken lights is not as a direct result of last Thursday’s draft budget. It is already happening because of the curtailment in the Department’s expenditure on routine road maintenance activities following the June monitoring round by the Northern Ireland Executive. Surely the cutbacks from the draft budget will further exacerbate that.

As we continue into the dark winter season, life will be even more gloomier for many.

Of course cutbacks on some major expenditure works will also have a negative effect on jobs with many sectors introducing recruitment freezes and pay restraints. There will be a move to grow the private sector. Northern Ireland has a major imbalance in the private/public sector compared with the rest of the United Kingdom. A recent report indicated how over 30 per cent of all Northern Ireland jobs were in the public sector, well above the UK average of 21 per cent.