Dutch industrialist Tiede Herrema is kidnapped from his Limerick home. His IRA captors threaten to to kill him unless the government releases three republican prisoners from jail. A siege begins at a council house in Monasterevin, Co. Kildare. Dr Herrema communicates secretly with Gardai during the siege. The armed stand-off continues for another seventeen days. Marion Coyle and Eddie Gallagher surrender. SAIGON: Two years after signing a treaty that guaranteed they would not invade the South, North Vietnamese and Viet Cong forces seize power in Saigon. The U.S. Embassy is the last hope for many trying to flee the city. Only Westerners and well-connected locals are airlifted to safety. Fourteen years after the first U.S. military intervention, the Vietnam war ends. It is five years since the scandal of the Arms Crisis and 1975 sees the end of Charles Haughey's time in the political wilderness. The former Cabinet minister returns to frontbench politics, becoming Opposition spokesman on Health. Britain's Conservatives get a new leader: Margaret Thatcher is the first woman to lead a British political party. She beats four male rivals in the contest to succeed Ted Heath. 29 August: Eamon de Valera dies. His life had spanned the history of the Irish State He had been a leader of the 1916 Rising, Taoiseach for 21 years and President for 14. BALCOMBE STREET London. An IRA gang holds two people hostage in a flat. The four gunmen demand safe passage to Ireland. British authorities refuse to negotiate. A six-day siege ends peacefully. In Northern Ireland, 'internment without trial' ends after four years. The last detainees are freed from the Maze Prison at Long Kesh. Following its success in winning the European Prize for Folk Art, Siamsa Tire opens its second 'teach siamsa' centre this year. On 31 July, as The Miami Showband return to the South after a gig in Co. Down, they are victims of a sectarian ambush by the UVF. Fran O'Toole their lead