EU ministers have agreed on a key aspect of data protection regulation at a meeting in Brussels today.

29 of the world's 30 largest data companies have European headquarters in Ireland. Under the current rules, the Irish Data Protection Commissioner effectively regulates those companies' operations across Europe.

Ireland has previously been subject to criticism over the rules, with Germany and France saying they do not trust the country to be independent.

Ministers met in Brussels today to discuss revisions to rules that came into force in 1995 - before many of today's biggest tech companies existed.

All 28 EU countries are set to sign up to a so-called 'one-stop shop' model which will instead allow people to lodge complaints with regulators in their country of residence.

It means that for the first time the same rules will apply to all EU citizens and each country will have a watchdog to whom complaints around privacy issues can be lodged.

The Minister of State with responsibility for Data Protection, Dara Murphy, spoke to Newstalk Lunchtime this afternoon about the EU plans:

Originally posted at 8.32am