Updated 14:30
The UK's Northern Ireland Secretary has admitted she didn't understand politics in the North voted when she started the job.
Karen Bradley took over the role from her predecessor James Brokenshire earlier this year.
In an interview with a Houses of Parliament magazine, Ms Bradley confessed she didn't understand "some of the deep-seated and deep-rooted issues that there are in Northern Ireland".
She explained: "I didn’t understand things like when elections are fought for example in Northern Ireland, people who are nationalists don’t vote for unionist parties and vice-versa. So, the parties fight for the election within their own community.
"Actually, the unionist parties fight the elections against each other in unionist communities and nationalists in nationalist communities. That’s a very different world from the world I came from."
She also stated that she was "slightly scared" of Northern Ireland as a result of her "impression and images from 20 years ago".
However, she added that the North today is a 'vibrant, energetic and exciting' place to be.
Ms Bradley's admission that she didn't understand politics in the North drew criticism from Shadow Brexit minister Jenny Chapman, who described it as 'embarrassing'.
The Labour MP told Politics Home magazine: "Given this worrying lack of basic knowledge about Northern Ireland, its no wonder the Tories don't seem to understand the vital importance of preventing a return of a hard border there."
British Prime Minister Theresa May, however, has insisted she 'retains' confidence in her Northern Secretary in the wake of the remarks.
Tánaiste and Foreign Affairs Minister Simon Coveney is also supporting Ms Bradley.
He said: "I don't know what that interview was done... but my time with Karen Bradley has been positive.
"She is 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."
