The Irish government says it is still on course to unveil the next stage of its pensions reforms by the end of the year - and the feedback from the industry suggests it could not come soon enough. There was a strong turnout at this year's Irish Association of Pension Funds' annual conference, in part because the ongoing market turbulence in the Irish market has revealed several flaws in the pensions system that need to be tackled.

Just minutes after Patrick Burke, chairman of the IAPF, warned that defined benefit schemes were "at a risk of collapse in the face of the current funding standards requirements", the government delivered a welcome short-term regulatory filing reprieve for defined benefits pension schemes. Mary Hanafin, minister for social and family affairs, told delegates they will have an extra six months to file their one-year check document concerning minimum funding standards (MFS).

Under the current regulatory requirements, every scheme has to state whether it could cover its liabilities if wound up tomorrow. As soon as a scheme knows its liabilities cannot be met under existing investment holdings, it has to file an MFS solution by the end of its financial year - for 80% of DB schemes this is 31 December.

What Philip Shier from the Society of Actuaries revealed, however, is that, under the current market conditions, three out of four schemes would be considered underfunded on 1 October and therefore in breach of their MFS.

Maurice Whyms, a partner of new firm Attain Consulting, warned finding a conclusion could damage relations between all parties concerned. "Trustees end up having to go through the whole process again and maybe again. At the best of times, it is frustrating and costly and it could adversely affect the employer's good will on DB provision," says Whyms.

The MFS is one key aspect of policy government officials are now going have to consider. Yet the consensus of responses to the pensions' green paper suggested there are several routes taken in the UK system that will not be applied by the Irish government. Ireland is unlikely to introduce a lifeboat support fund to protect scheme members if plans do collapse, in part because of the huge cost to schemes as experienced in the UK but mainly because the Irish market does not have the same debt-on-employer demands. There is similarly less call for a pensions buyout market among Irish schemes and there is as yet no sign of any interest in creating a giant pension administration system similar to the proposed UK personal accounts.

The 380 responses to the green paper showed that the views on how to tackle pension reforms were wide and varied. The report on submissions was reduced from 1,200 pages to just a tenth of this, but a closer look at the responses do, however, subtly hint where policy might perhaps go.

Auto-enrolment to pensions may be favoured over mandatory contributions, in part because there could be problems if employers cannot afford to pay. But a possible willingness to pay matching contributions was something that "came through quite strongly", according to Orlaigh Quinn, principal for pension policy at the Department for Social and family Affairs.

Yet providing a tax incentive did not appear to make a difference to whether people contributed to their pension, based on responses submitted, Quinn suggested. But this claim appears to contradict warnings by the Irish pensions industry following a cut in the Budget to the tax relief limit on contributions from  €275,239 to €150,000 a year.

A rising issue - and one likely to be tackled by government policy - is Ireland's compulsory purchase of annuities with defined contribution pots and the possible need for a state annuity fund.

Every person reaching the age of 65, except executive directors and the self-employed, must purchase an annuity to provide an income for life. The risks this presents to the government's push for future private pensions provision, however, have become all too apparent as many people approaching retirement have seen their pots of money substantially reduced over the last year of market turmoil.

Whereas the Irish government might earlier have been willing to consider placing more of an emphasis on defined contribution schemes and employer contributions through its pension reforms, the recent market turbulence means that there will be a greater economic need to balance giving individuals a decent retirement income and an employer's ability to pay.