Irish musicians and writers have been reacting to last night’s terror attacks in Paris.
“Absolutely unthinkable,” Hozier messaged minutes after the news broke. “Thoughts are with the victims and their families.”
This morning he added: “Reject prejudice. Remember that the people knocking on Europe's doors are fleeing the same horrors that now cause us to stand still in grief.”
“Our thoughts are with the people of Paris,” Glen Hansard reflects. “This is devastating and affects us all. We must go on.”
“Holy shit!” reacted Kodaline. “What is going on in Paris tonight? Our thoughts and prayers are with everyone affected.”
“People and some politicians speaking of revenge and war,” Niall Breslin proffered. “Please stop.”
Those sentiments were echoed by Pugwash’s Thomas Walsh who says: “There are a lot of so called 'well known' people saying some very silly things at present. Anger and genuine sadness are in us all today but stupidity is in the DNA. It's just highlighting the idiots for me.”
“Can we skip all the hot takes on how the people of Paris deserved this somehow?” was Graham Linehan's reaction. “Can the hot takers keep their mouths shut for, say, a week?”
"Get hold of a copy of Four Lions," suggests film director Paul Duane. "Watch it. Understand these killers are pathetic losers, not omniscient assassins."
“We got married in Paris because we couldn't think of a better place to celebrate love,” notes Joe Chester. “That remains true today, Paris city of love and light.”
"Can't quite fathom what happened yesterday in France," Gary Lightbody writes. "Sending love to all there. Praying for better days."
“A prayer for Paris,” said Boy George simply. “My heart breaks! xxx”
In Paris for the gig that U2 were supposed to play there tonight, author, TV personality and friend of the band Amanda Brunker found herself trapped in the restaurant where she was dining.
“I’m very central and in a different part of the town to the awful attacks,” she messaged. “Totally shocking. Our restaurant in lockdown and everyone on their phones. Very surreal.”
Making it back to her hotel in the wee small hours, she added: “Taxis not operating but thank you Uber for taking our call. According to our waitress earlier, police were warned of Paris attack three days ago. Clearly they never took the warning seriously.”