The incoming Taoiseach has warned the British prime minister she cannot be too reliant on the DUP.

Leo Varadkar says it will undermine the whole Northern Ireland peace process if the British government is seen as being too close to any one party.

The warning comes as talks get underway in Stormont, between the DUP and Sinn Féin, to try and restore power-sharing there.

Sinn Fein has expressed concern that the British government can no longer be expected to act as an honest broker, as it is required to under the Good Friday Agreement, because of its dependence on the DUP.

Its president Gerry Adams has called for the British government's secretary for Northern Ireland, James Brokenshire, to stand aside and allow an independent chair in the new talks on Stormont.

But Brokenshire has dismissed any claim that he might not be fair to both sides, and suggested that the substantive issues to be agreed in Northern Ireland belong to the main parties, not to him.

Our political correspondent Gavan Reilly reports: