ELementTree first child function is missing

I am writing a parser in python to parse an xml file. For that I need to get tag name but when I am doing so, along with tag name I am getting namespace also. Alongwith this, I need to get the first child at many positions which I am unable to find any attribute in this package (Elementtree). I searched a lot but could not find out as how to get only tag name without namespace value and first child also. The trialinput.xml file is as follows:

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<nf:rpc-reply xmlns:nf="urn:ietf:params:xml:ns:netconf:base:1.0" xmlns="http://ift.tt/WgqNKF">
 <nf:data>
  <show>
   <ip>
    <interface>
     <__XML__BLK_Cmd_ip_show_interface_command_brief>
      <__XML__OPT_Cmd_ip_show_interface_command_operational>
       <__XML__OPT_Cmd_ip_show_interface_command_vrf>
        <__XML__OPT_Cmd_ip_show_interface_command___readonly__>
         <__readonly__>
    <TABLE_intf>

        <ROW_intf>
                <vrf-name-out>default</vrf-name-out>
                <intf-name>Vlan10</intf-name>
                <prefix>9.1.1.1</prefix>
                <ip-disabled>FALSE</ip-disabled>
                <iod>104</iod>
                <proto-state>TRUE</proto-state>
                <link-state>TRUE</link-state>
                <admin-state>TRUE</admin-state>
               </ROW_intf>
        <ROW_intf>
                <vrf-name-out>default</vrf-name-out>
                <intf-name>Vlan23</intf-name>
                <prefix>23.1.1.9</prefix>
                <ip-disabled>FALSE</ip-disabled>
                <iod>103</iod>
                <proto-state>TRUE</proto-state>
                <link-state>TRUE</link-state>
                <admin-state>TRUE</admin-state>
             </ROW_intf>
             <ROW_intf>
                <vrf-name-out>default</vrf-name-out>
                <intf-name>Po1</intf-name>
                <prefix>4.9.1.2</prefix>
                <ip-disabled>FALSE</ip-disabled>
                <iod>111</iod>
                <proto-state>TRUE</proto-state>
                <link-state>TRUE</link-state>
                <admin-state>TRUE</admin-state>
             </ROW_intf>
             <ROW_intf>
                <vrf-name-out>default</vrf-name-out>
                <intf-name>Po2</intf-name>
                <prefix>5.9.1.2</prefix>
                <ip-disabled>FALSE</ip-disabled>
                <iod>112</iod>
                <proto-state>TRUE</proto-state>
                <link-state>TRUE</link-state>
                <admin-state>TRUE</admin-state>
             </ROW_intf>
             <ROW_intf>
                <vrf-name-out>default</vrf-name-out>
                <intf-name>Po3</intf-name>
                <prefix>6.9.1.2</prefix>
                <ip-disabled>FALSE</ip-disabled>
                <iod>113</iod>
                <proto-state>TRUE</proto-state>
                <link-state>TRUE</link-state>
                <admin-state>TRUE</admin-state>
             </ROW_intf>
    </TABLE_intf>
    </__readonly__>
        </__XML__OPT_Cmd_ip_show_interface_command___readonly__>
       </__XML__OPT_Cmd_ip_show_interface_command_vrf>
      </__XML__OPT_Cmd_ip_show_interface_command_operational>
     </__XML__BLK_Cmd_ip_show_interface_command_brief>
    </interface>
   </ip>
  </show>
 </nf:data>
</nf:rpc-reply>

The code that I am writing is (in progress of completion, has given just to give a gist of what I am trying to get as an output):

import xml.etree.ElementTree as ET

print "before skip()"
def skip(root):

    print "rootname.tag in skip == %s" %(root.tag)
        if(root.tag == "readonly"):  // here if I compare with the namespace then returns the value
        print "skip -> if"
        return root
    else:
        print "skip-> else"
        root = root[0]
        print "new root %s" %root
        return skip(root)

xmlDoc = ET.parse("trialinput.xml")  
dict = {}
print "accessing the root"
root = xmlDoc.getroot()

print "rootname == %s" %root.tag
pointerOfReadonly = skip(root)

print "pointerOfReadonly.tag %s" %pointerOfReadonly.tag

print "accessing child of readonly"
tableInitiationPointer = pointerOfReadonly[0]   // Here how to get the first child of readonly tag?


#print "accessing children of table"
#allRows = tableInitiationPointer.childNodes

Print "no of rows in the table = %s" %tableInitiationPointer.len("ROW_intf")// Returning none due to above non ability to find the tag
for row in tableInitiationPointer:
    for subrows in row:
        key = subrows.tag
        value = subrows.value
                dict[key]=value