Irish government praise minister Bradley ahead of powersharing talks

The Irish government has said Karen Bradley is a smart and experienced politician after she admitted she initially did not understand Northern Ireland politics when she took on her Cabinet brief.

The Northern Ireland Secretary will be working closely with Dublin, as co-guarantors of the peace process, over coming weeks to kick-start powersharing talks.

She revealed that when appointed earlier this year, she did not realise that the country’s nationalists did not vote for unionist parties or vice versa during elections. Sinn Fein said her comments were a reminder of where the country is on the UK government’s priority list but No 10 has said Prime Minister Theresa May retains confidence in her.

Irish foreign affairs minister Simon Coveney said: “She’s someone who has really made an effort to understand Northern Ireland. She didn’t have a lot of experience of Northern Ireland before being appointed there but she’s an experienced, very smart politician and I’m going to work closely with her to help the parties in Northern Ireland to work with each other.

“Whether you’re a unionist or a nationalist, having no devolved government structures, having no capacity to make political decisions in Northern Ireland is bad for everybody. Karen Bradley recognises that, so do I.”

Ms Bradley also said she did not fathom some of the deeprooted issues that define Northern Irish politics when she was first appointed. Earlier this year, an immigration minister quizzed about the Irish border at Westminster admitted she had not read in full the 1998 Good Friday peace agreement. Sinn Fein’s former Stormont finance minister Mairtin O Muilleoir said Ms Bradley’s comments were a “sorry reminder” of where the country was on the priority list of the British government.