Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has held talks with his Irish counterpart Taoiseach Leo Varadkar in Dublin and met Ireland’s President Michael D Higgins on Tuesday.
Trudeau is in Ireland on a three-day visit ahead of the G20 leaders’ summit in Hamburg, Germany later in the week.
Canada’s free trade deal with the European Union was expected to be a focal point of Trudeau’s meetings in Ireland.
Trade unions, farmers and environmental groups in Ireland have expressed concerns about the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA), which will reduce barriers and is expected to generate up to $12 billion of trade between Canada and EU.
Speaking to reporters after their meeting, both Trudeau and Varadkar sang the praises of CETA as a model for modern free trade pacts, which will benefit both sides.
“CETA will give Canadian and Irish businesses greater access to each other’s markets,” Trudeau said. “It will deliver stronger economic growth, the kind of growth that benefits all citizens, not just the wealthiest.”
The two leaders also discussed the challenges facing both Canada and Ireland that are dealing with large neighbours going through some disruptive changes – the Trump administration in the United States in Canada’s case, and the United Kingdom’s potentially messy divorce with the EU for Ireland.
“This is actually something that Leo and I did talk about,” Trudeau said, “being smaller countries that are confident and open in their role within the global economy and looking for opportunities that the global context might give them.”
The two countries also share many common values, Trudeau said.
“Canadians and Irish alike understand that it is not enough to tolerate our neighbours, we need to embrace the things that make each of us unique whether it’s our gender, the language we speak at home, where we worship or whom we love,” Trudeau said.
After the press conference both leaders were given an exhibition of Gaelic football and hurling, an ancient outdoor Gaelic and Irish team game that has similarities with field hockey and lacrosse.
Trudeau arrived in Dublin with his wife, Sophie Grégoire Trudeau, and their youngest son, Hadrien, on Monday.
The trip was also an opportunity for Trudeau to explore his own Irish roots.
Trudeau’s Irish roots were traced by genealogist Fiona Fitzsimons – who claims that through his mother, Margaret Sinclair, Trudeau is a direct descendant of the Bernard family from County Cork in southern Ireland, according to a report in The Independent newspaper.
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