Germany takes a swipe at Ireland on data protection

Germany’s distrust of Ireland’s data protection authority came out into the open when a senior minister related it to the failure of the country’s banking supervisor in the lead-up to the financial crisis.

Data Protection Minister Dara Murphy accused Thomas de Maizière of being “disingenuous” and challenged him to make the accusation to his face.

Mr de Maizière, Germany’s interior minister and a close ally of chancellor Angela Merkel, did not mince his words before a meeting in Brussels to agree elements of new EU data protection legislation.