Tánaiste Micheál Martin wants to explore "alternatives" rather than selling land to a British investment fund in order to help meet Ireland's climate targets.

It was revealed that thousands of acres of rural Ireland will be sold to the Gresham House fund as part of an afforestation deal with semi-State agency Coillte.

The plans have been met with a backlash from rural TDs amid concerns that farmers could be priced out of buying land.

Now the Fianna Fáil leader has called for a 'review' of the process, and said other models should be explored. Mr Martin said: "I think there is room to look at an alternative, another model as well, where the State owns the land. We have a lot of funding that we could potentially use differently."

There is growing anger about the issue on the Oireachtas Agriculture Committee, with some members believing Coillte - which is aiming to plant 247,000 acres of new forests by 2050 to help green targets - was not up front about the sale of over 1,000 acres in Tipperary to the Irish Strategic Forestry Fund, an investment vehicle launched by Gresham House.

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The sale on December 23 came just ten days after the chief executive of Coillte told the committee they were "really only beginning the journey in terms of the acquisition of land".

Agriculture Minister Charlie McConalogue, Fianna Fáil TD for Donegal, is to meet with Coillte regarding the concerns over the fund's involvement.

Mr Martin said the involvement of investment funds is not "at a scale yet" to create difficulties.

However, he added: "I think on a more general level we will review this overall because we need afforestation. The issue is the State needs to buy more land, in terms of both rewilding and in terms of afforestation."

Anger over the deal between Coillte and Gresham House is growing, with parties across the political spectrum opposing it. At the Oireachtas Agriculture Committee on December 13, ten days before the sale of the Tipperary site was confirmed, Coillte chief executive Imelda Hurley said the semi-State body was "in the late stages of engagement" in terms of the "fund manager" and that she was not in a position to identify who that third party was.

Now Independent TD Michael Fitzmaurice, who ensured Coillte appeared in front of the committee before Christmas, has said he felt "misled" by evidence given by the semi-State body.

He said: "This deal was done a long time before they came into us, that's my view. They were sparing with the truth and they were quite evasive... It's farmers and rural Ireland that will suffer."

Fianna Fáil TD Jackie Cahill, the chair of the committee, said: "Most definitely there was no indication that there was any imminent purchase of land anywhere near happening. And we were under the impression they would brief us again before it was finalised. It looks like it was [a done deal] if land was purchased like this. Purchases as quick as this would raise questions about the information we were given at the committee."

However, Coillte "absolutely refutes any suggestion" that it misled the committee.

A spokeswoman said the investors did not sign up to become partners in the Irish Strategic Forestry Fund until after the Oireachtas committee meeting.

She added: "Therefore, the fund was not finalised until all partners had confirmed their participation. On that basis, Coillte was not in a position to confirm its participation in the fund or name the other parties involved in the negotiations at the committee."

A spokesman for Gresham House said: "As with any investment, Gresham House has been conducting significant preparatory work including registering the Irish Strategic Forestry Fund name at the Companies Registration Office in May 2022 in anticipation of the successful conclusion of discussions with all other parties; this work is necessary prior to the launch of any investment vehicle of this nature."

He also confirmed the fund was looking at sites last year, saying: "The work includes identifying potential sites for acquisition, including the site to which you refer [in Tipperary], so that the fund has an active pipeline of sites on behalf of its investors in its early stages." He said that "assembling a pipeline of sites" in this manner at a fund's inception is established practice within the investment management industry and would not be considered unusual or atypical.

It is understood that there was at least one bid by an unsuccessful applicant for the land in Tipperary, of around €5m, and that bids were made initially around July of last year.

A review of Landdirect, where the deeds of property purchases are registered, shows that on December 23, the Irish Strategic Forestry Fund made a purchase of around 1,200 acres of forested land in Tipperary. A further review of company records shows two holding companies were sought to be registered on November 25 last year, called ISFF Holdco 1 and 2.

The companies were approved to be formed on December 2.

The partnership between Coillte and Gresham House was officially announced on January 6, a day after the story broke.

Sinn Féin's Matt Carthy said he expected the Agriculture Committee would seek to have Coillte in front of it soon.

He said: "Certainly I think Coillte had information on December 13 that they could have shared with the committee and it is disappointing and concerning that they decided not to."