A few weeks after 300 of Ireland's credit unions were told torestrict their lending, the Irish Credit Union League said theenvironment here is indeed extremely challenging.

“There is no doubt that the past financial year has beendifficult for the Irish economy,” the league said Thursday in an overview of the country's creditunion system. “The financial landscape remains extremelychallenging and credit unions have been directly affected by thedifficulties their members have faced and 2011 has seen increasinghardships for the Irish population who have been deeply affected byin rising unemployment and austerity measures.”

Ireland's credit unions have provided approximately $2.2 billionin loans to their members, as of June, according to the league.Many of those loans at Ireland's 400 credit unions are now inarrears, the Independent Digital reported, citing Irish CU League data.Arrearage has increased from 10% in 2009 to 18%, as of the end ofJune.

“When our members suffer, we suffer and it has been anotherdifficult year for Irish credit unions,” wrote Kieron Brennan, ILCUCEO. “We will continue to work with the relevant regulatoryauthorities to ensure that the needs of the movement are fullyreflected in any new legislation and regulation.”

The Credit Union Managers' Association, a trade group in Ireland,recently reported that some 300 credit unions had been told by theCentral Bank of Ireland to limit their monthly lending limit tounder $127,650.

Meanwhile, the Central Bank's Registrar of Credit Unions said ithas been concerned with the growing number of credit unions thathave losses in their loan portfolios. The registrar said it hasdeveloped a plan to help “weak and nonviable” credit unions whileprotecting members' savings.