Stormont is no stranger to missed targets and in just over a fortnight another one will have passed by without success.
Almost a decade ago, the Executive set itself the goal of removing all of Northern Ireland's so-called peace walls "by 2023".
It was part of a 10-year strategy called 'Together: Building a United Community', which aimed to improve relations between mainly Catholic and Protestant neighbourhoods.
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Erected at flashpoints in response to attacks and disorder during the Troubles, the barriers range from high concrete walls to gates and fences.
They can be owned by a number of bodies, from the Department of Justice to the Housing Executive as well as private groups.
But almost 25 years since the Good Friday Agreement, Stormont is nowhere near meeting its 2023 objective.
More than 100 peace barriers remain across Northern Ireland, the International Fund for Ireland said earlier this year.
With the benefit of hindsight it looks naive to have set such an ambitious and rigid target, but the strategy was announced in different times.
Despite the Belfast Union flag protests having occurred some months earlier, Stormont power-sharing was going through a period of relative stability. Brexit was nowhere on the horizon.
But in nearly half of the past decade the Executive has not been fully functioning, including its collapse over the RHI scandal and the current Northern Ireland Protocol impasse.
There have of course been significant achievements over the years to gradually phase out many of these peace-line structures and bring communities together.
Earlier this week the Department of Justice began removing from Derry's historic walls some remaining sections of security fencing.
Tour guide Charlene McCrossan hailed the move as a "positive change for the city", telling the BBC: "These divides have been in place for 50 years - longer than the Berlin Wall."
Last month the reopening of Flax Street along Crumlin Road in North Belfast after decades of being locked shut was widely welcomed.
But in many cases change has been a slow and incremental process. Some schemes are more an exercise in making interface barriers less unsightly than removing them altogether.
While Flax Street reopened, it will still be closely monitored by police CCTV and the gates will be closed overnight.
In 2020, a longstanding corrugated metal barrier at Duncairn Gardens running alongside the mainly nationalist New Lodge was replaced by a lower structure with a brick bottom half and metal fence upper half.
It looks more pleasant, but to all intents and purposes it is still a peace wall.
In the 10 years since the 2023 target was set, it is clear that change cannot occur overnight as it requires careful planning and painstaking consultation.
In these interface communities, many will be fearful of removing barriers they have grown used to seeing every day.
A Stormont report in 2020 found mixed views on peace walls from residents living near them. Overall, 49% said they wanted the walls to go and 42% wanted them to stay.
There was also broad concern over the PSNI's ability to maintain order if the barriers were removed. While 27% of those surveyed felt confident the police would preserve peace, 51% were worried about their ability to do so.
In a joint foreword to the 2013 strategy, then First Minister Peter Robinson and Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness said it offered a "clear and coherent vision for building a better future".
It represented a "clear choice to move away from division, and instead establish a new, reconciled and shared society".
The fact that many peace walls remain standing acts as a physical reminder that there is much more work still to be done to achieve this ambition.
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