Member of the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture and Food are understood to be unhappy at the lack of representatives from the Veterinary Council of Ireland (VCI) at one of its recent meetings.

The committee met last week to discuss what was described as a "looming retention crisis" in the veterinary nursing profession in Ireland.

Kellie Fagan, chair of the Irish Veterinary Nurses Association (IVNA), told the meeting that, according to a recent survey, nearly 76% of veterinary nurses are either "considering leaving, unsure about remaining, or planning to leave the profession altogether".

The VCI is the statutory body tasked with regulating the veterinary profession.

The statutory body was initially invited to send representatives, but this invitation was withdrawn, and therefore no VCI members were present.

The VCI said that it did not decline to attend the meeting, and that its invitation to the meeting was withdrawn by the committee as "the matters being dealt with were considered to fall outside [the VCI's] statutory remit and regulatory function".

"Accordingly, the VCI did not attend. The VCI remains available to engage with the committee on matters within its statutory remit should it be invited to do so in the future," the regulatory body said in a statement to Agriland.

However, sources in the committee have indicated that its members are not convinced by this reason for the VCI's absence.

Members of the committee are understood to be eager to get the VCI in for a meeting on veterinary nursing retention, and they feel that the issue is one for the VCI to take questions on.

The only committee member who has publicly commented on the issue so far is Sinn Féin spokesperson on agriculture Martin Kenny.

Kenny said it was disappointing that the VCI was not represented at the meeting, citing the comments from the INVA representatives last week.

Kenny claimed that the VCI has "done nothing" about the issues facing veterinary nurses.

"As a starting point, I suggested that there should be a sectoral pay agreement for veterinary nurses to recognise that they are qualified healthcare professionals who are vital to animal healthcare and animal welfare across the country," the Sligo-Leitrim TD said.

He added: "The present arrangement where veterinary nurses [are] on placement up to 850 hours and get no pay during this time needs to be examined."

It is understood that the Oireachtas Agriculture committee is likely to extend another invitation to the VCI to appear before it on this issue.