Denis Naughten (Roscommon-Galway, Independent) | Oireachtas source

Particularly in an economy where we have full employment, we need to be conscious of that. The current social welfare system, as it is presently structured, is taking people out of the workforce whom we need, such as the cases Deputy Ó Cuív has spoken about. At the other end of the spectrum - this is part of the work that is being done in the north east of the country with one-parent families - we are looking at moving higher up the employment workforce chain in terms of higher value employment, flexible employment and maybe remote working. Those opportunities have not been explored to their full potential. They could bring significant additional income into those households, and not only at minimum wage rates. There are opportunities in that regard.