Lucinda Creighton: Left and right not so different after all over Canada trade deal

The radical left are mobilising against the EU-Canada Free Trade Agreement (CETA) with flimsy arguments reminiscent of the radical right

‘The overwhelming benefits of these trade agreements ought to be defended robustly and convincingly by our government. Sadly, this is something which rarely happens.’ Picture: Getty

The extreme left and the far right have much more in common than either side would care to admit. We have seen this across Europe particularly in the past decade, as populist movements straddled both ideologies – scaremongering about immigration, advocating the collapse of the financial system and the euro currency, and rejecting the global trading system.

Ireland is not immune to this trend. Its latest manifestation here is the mobilisation of the radical-left green ...