Faced with the knowledge that the economy will not be improving in the foreseeable future, the Irish credit union community is looking for options to save as many credit unions as possible.

Some of Ireland's credit unions–community-based savings and lending clubs owned by their members–lent aggressively during the go-go years of the Celtic Tiger economy and are now struggling during a severe downturn.

Earlier this month, the Centre for Co-operative Studies at the University College of Cork, held a seminar on the U.S. experience with CUSOs. NACUSO General Counsel Guy Messick, Mark Zook, chairman of NACUSO and CEO of MAPS Credit Union, Kirk Drake CEO of Ongoing Operations, Ray Crouse NACUSO board member and president of Allegacy Services, and Jeff Russell CEO of TMG Financial Services, attended.