Coveney and Bradley aim to restore powersharing 'as soon as possible'
Irish Foreign Minister Simon Coveney and the new Northern Ireland Secretary Karen Bradley have vowed to work together to reinstate Stormont.
Last updated 12th Jan 2018
The pair met in London on Friday after Mr Coveney, flew into the city from a visit to the Middle East.
After meeting the newly appointed Northern Ireland Secretary, Mr Coveney said the talks had been "very good'' and he expected they were "going to work very well together.''
The Irish deputy prime minister said there remained "significant challenges'' but both governments wanted to find a way to resolve the stand-off.
He said: "Everybody knows that there are time constraints in terms of the work that we need to do but also I think everybody agrees that we want devolved government again in Northern Ireland.''
The pair are due to meet again at the beginning of next week.
The meeting came after fresh controversies in Northern Ireland politics, this time around the 1976 Kingsmill massacre in south Armagh.
Mr Coveney attacked the "really, really stupid and insensitive'' actions of Sinn Fein MP Barry McElduff, who posted a social media video of him with a Kingsmill branded loaf on his head on the anniversary of the atrocity that saw republican paramilitaries shoot dead 10 Protestant workmen.
Mr McElduff, who apologised and insisted the video was not a reference to the massacre, was suspended by Sinn Fein for three months.
Unionists reacted angrily, both to the post and the extent of Sinn Fein's punishment, and the incident appeared to further reduce the already bleak prospects of a deal to restore powersharing.
The situation was exacerbated on Wednesday when a number of unionist politicians retweeted a graphic satirical cartoon that portrayed the Mr McElduff controversy by depicting the aftermath of the Kingsmill outrage, with blood running from a bullet-riddled van.
The incidents prompted the sole survivor of the Kingsmill shootings, Alan Black, to implore politicians on all sides to stop trying to "poke each other's eye out'' and instead help the victims.
Mr Coveney said: "I think the unfortunate things that have happened in relation to Kingsmill this week and the absolutely understandable upset of families because of a really, really stupid and insensitive occurrence is a reminder of just how important legacy and reconciliation is.
"So, that's why I hope people will get some encouragement from the tone of the interaction between Edwin Poots and John O'Dowd last night, which I hope is the tone we can continue in.''
Speaking after the meeting, Mr Coveney also told reporters that he did not believe there was any ambiguity in the agreement reached in December on the Northern Ireland border during Brexit negotiations.
He said: "I don't think there is any ambiguity in the context of an all-Ireland economy and the need to protect north-south cooperation in the context of the Good Friday Agreement."