Events in the year 1975 in Ireland. Incumbents President: Cearbhall Ó Dálaigh Taoiseach: Liam Cosgrave (FG) Tánaiste: Brendan Corish (Lab) Minister for Finance: Richie Ryan (FG) Chief Justice: Tom O'Higgins Dáil: 20th Seanad: 13th Events January–June – Ireland held Presidency of the Council of the European Union for the first time. 7 January – Sinéad de Valera, wife of the former president, died in Dublin aged 96. 30 January – Charles Haughey was brought back onto the Fianna Fáil party front bench. 14 March – Pierre Trudeau, the prime minister of Canada, paid a brief visit to Ireland and held bilateral talks at Dublin Castle. 17 April – Mary Immaculate College, Limerick, and Our Lady of Mercy College, Carysfort, became recognised colleges of the National University of Ireland. 18 June – Danny O'Hare became acting director of the National Institute for Higher Education, Dublin; a day later, the governing body first met. 31 July – Miami Showband killings: Three members of The Miami Showband and two paramilitaries were killed in an Ulster Volunteer Force ambush in County Down as they returned home to Dublin from playing at a dance in Banbridge, Northern Ireland. 29 August – Former revolutionary, Taoiseach, and President of Ireland, Éamon de Valera died in Dublin aged 92. The government announced a day of mourning. 3 October – Dutch industrialist and Limerick factory owner Tiede Herrema was kidnapped. 12 October – Oliver Plunkett, the 17th-century Archbishop of Armagh, was canonised by Pope Paul VI in Rome. 21 October – Tiede Herrema was located with his kidnappers in Monasterevin, County Kildare and a police siege began. 18 November – The Tiede Herrema kidnap siege ended. 28 December – George Best played a League of Ireland match for Cork Celtic against Drogheda. Arts and literature 14 May – Cork-born writer Patrick Galvin's We Do It For Love, a satire on The Troubles, opened at the Lyric Theatre, Belfast. 7 October – Tom Murphy's play The Sanctuary Lamp opened at the Abbey Theatre, Dublin to religious controversy. Leland Bardwell, Pearse Hutchinson, Eiléan Ní Chuilleanáin and Macdara Woods founded the literary publication Cyphers. Garry Hynes, Mick Lally, and Marie Mullen founded the Druid Theatre Company in Galway. Lillias Mitchell founded the Irish Guild of Weavers, Spinners, and Dyers. Publications: Eavan Boland's collection of poems The War Horse was published. Paul Durcan's collection of poems O Westport in the Light of Asia