The following is the text of the speech delivered at a conference hosted by the Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection on 9 November 2017, entitled ‘The Digital Economy, New Forms of Work and Challenges for Social Security Systems: Financing and Coverage’. It is an honour to be part of this event. I consider the building of the welfare state to probably be the greatest achievement of the twentieth century. While I am sure it seems that you are pretty far from making history in your day-to-day work, it is very important to mark the anniversary of the department as part of this broader movement for social protection and improvement of human welfare. My main concern in my brief remarks is to lay out for Ireland where the welfare state meets the labour market – in particular, at the lowerwage end of the labour market. I will start with the welfare state, then talk about the jobs at this lower end of the labour market and then return to the implications for the welfare system in the future.