The UK government's failure to plan for Brexit meant "we're all screwed", a unionist MLA has said.
Former Justice Minister Clare Sugden said she felt the Westminster approach to a Leave vote in the 2016 referendum was, "Let's cross that bridge when we come to it."
She is among several former Stormont ministers who have shared their candid experiences of power-sharing in interviews with the Institute for Government.
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Ex-Sinn Féin Finance Minister Máirtín Ó Muilleoir, Alliance deputy leader Stephen Farry and former UUP Regional Development Minister Danny Kennedy also contributed to the Ministers Reflect series.
Ms Sugden, an independent unionist who became Justice Minister just weeks before the Leave vote, said: "If I'm honest I'm not sure anyone expected that outcome.
"I do recall this moment when senior civil servants were saying to me, 'You know we really need to prepare for this' – because of the potential consequences around things like the European Arrest Warrant."
She added: "I feel the British government generally with Brexit has just been very, 'Let's cross that bridge when we come to it, we might not need to plan because it might not happen.' And then it does happen and we're all screwed, to be honest."
Several former ministers detailed the difficulties and challenges of working in Northern Ireland's system of mandatory power-sharing government.
Mr Farry, who was a minister between 2011 and 2016, said there was "a lot of mutual suspicion" because there were five parties in the Executive at the time.
The North Down MP added: "So I basically refer to the Executive as being something like a transactional clearing house rather than a government that was really exercising any sense of strategic planning or sense of where they were taking Northern Ireland as a whole."
Mr Kennedy, who served in the Executive from 2010 to 2015, said Stormont is "more inclined to do populism than the really hard decisions".
He added: "It's too much of a political carve-up, you know, 'You get something on that, and we'll get something on that.' That’s not the way to do public policy.
"Shared responsibility became a political carve-up and to this day I think that's one of the frustrations of the system."
Former Finance Minister Mr Ó Muilleoir said that "by and large, the decisions were taken above my head" by the first and deputy first ministers' office.
He said: "I guess it’s no secret that the two big parties, Sinn Féin and the DUP, who called the shots, that by and large they said: 'This is where the money is going to go.'"
Mr Ó Muilleoir said working with the British government was "demoralising, depressing" and "wasteful in terms of my time", but he enjoyed working with the Scottish and Welsh governments.
He said: "We made great mischief. We had great fun. It was wonderful to see us mongrel Celts banding together against the Big Brother."
On relationships with the Irish government, Mr Ó Muilleoir said: "I was impressed by, and remain deeply impressed by (Fine Gael TD) Paschal Donohoe, the sole Finance Minister now.
"They split finance into two different portfolios when I was minister, but my main contact was with Paschal Donohoe. I found him a man of great integrity, great warmth."
Mr Ó Muilleoir said Sinn Féin has been heavily critical of Mr Donohoe, but the former MLA added: "I found that he rose above party division."
The in-depth interviews were conducted last year but have only now been published as part of the Ministers Reflect series.
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