JUSTICE Minister Dermot Ahern said he was unaware that three men found guilty of a 'tiger raid' faced sentencing within a matter of days when he called for life sentences for those involved in kidnapping bank staff or their families.

In an article written last week for a Sunday newspaper, the minister said that those involved in tiger raids needed "to start fearing the prospect of spending their lives in prison".

Four days later, two men – who had been involved in the abduction of bank worker Paul Richardson's family – received record jail sentences.

Jason Kavanagh and Mark Farrelly, two career criminals, were each given 25-year jail terms, amongst the longest prison sentences ever handed out in Ireland.

The justice minister however, has said he did not realise the men were to be sentenced imminently and that he had nothing to apologise for.

On Sunday, Ahern had written a hard-hitting article in which he warned tiger raiders that they were likely to face life in prison. He said: "The vicious thugs who undertake these activities should understand that the sentence for false imprisonment is up to life in prison.

"And where people are sentenced to life imprisonment in these circumstances, no one will persuade me as minister that life should not mean life."

A spokeswoman for Ahern said: "The minister does not have anything to apologise for as the judiciary is entirely independent in its functions.

"The minister would not have been aware of the sentencing dates involved in individual cases."

The sentencing hearing had been well-flagged in advance, including a hearing just five days before Ahern's article appeared.

During that hearing on 3 November , the Circuit Criminal Court heard that Judge Tony Hunt needed extra time to finalise matters and adjourned the case for a week.

The average life sentence based on figures from the Irish Prison Service in 2008 runs to just 17 years, two less than the men will serve.