Dr Tiede Herrema is a Dutch

Netherlands

The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...

 businessman.

In the 1970s, Herrema ran a wire factory, Ferenka, in the city of Limerick

Limerick

Limerick is the third largest city in the Republic of Ireland, and the principal city of County Limerick and Ireland's Mid-West Region. It is the fifth most populous city in all of Ireland. When taking the extra-municipal suburbs into account, Limerick is the third largest conurbation in the...

, Ireland

Ireland

Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...

. At the time, he was the city's biggest employer, with approximately 1,400 workers. On 3 October 1975 he was abducted near his home by two members of the Provisional Irish Republican Army

Provisional Irish Republican Army

The Provisional Irish Republican Army is an Irish republican paramilitary organisation whose aim was to remove Northern Ireland from the United Kingdom and bring about a socialist republic within a united Ireland by force of arms and political persuasion...

, Eddie Gallagher and Marion Coyle

Marion Coyle

Marion Coyle is a former volunteer in the Provisional Irish Republican Army .Marion Coyle was born on July 1954 in Derry, Northern Ireland, and lived in the Duncreggan Road, a rather middle-class and fashionable area of Derry...

. The kidnappers demanded the release of three IRA prisoners, including Rose Dugdale

Rose Dugdale

Bridget Rose Dugdale , better known as Rose Dugdale, is a former debutante who rebelled against her wealthy upbringing, becoming a volunteer in the militant Irish republican organisation, the Provisional Irish Republican Army...

.

After a massive security operation, the kidnappers were eventually traced on 21 October 1975 to a house in Monasterevin

Monasterevin

Situated 63 km from Dublin on the R445 road, Monasterevin has been relieved of much through traffic by the opening in 2004 of a new section of the M7 motorway bypassing the town on the N7 Dublin to Limerick route...

, County Kildare

County Kildare

County Kildare is a county in Ireland. It is part of the Mid-East Region and is also located in the province of Leinster. It is named after the town of Kildare. Kildare County Council is the local authority for the county...

. After a further two week long siege, Dr Herrema was released, shaken but unharmed. He left Ireland soon after.

He eventually returned to present an episode of Saturday Live. He and his wife were made honorary Irish citizens in 1975, and he was made a Freeman of the city of Limerick.

In 2005, he donated his personal papers to the University of Limerick

University of Limerick

The University of Limerick is a university in Ireland near the city of Limerick on the island's west coast. It was established in 1972 as the National Institute for Higher Education, Limerick and became a university by statute in 1989 in accordance with the University of Limerick Act 1989...

.

External links

• 1975: IRA kidnappers release industrialist — BBC
  BBC
  The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
  
   News retrospective
• Kidnapped - The Herrema Diaries 2005 Interview with Tiede Herrema from the RTÉ Radio
  RTÉ Radio
  RTÉ Radio is a department of Irish national broadcaster Raidió Teilifís Éireann. RTÉ Radio broadcasts four analogue channels and five digital channels....
  
  Documentary On One series (RealAudio)