Yesterday morning, masked gunmen stormed the offices and called out their victims by name before opening fire during a morning editorial meeting.

They were armed with Kalashnikov rifles and a rocket-propelled grenade.

Georges Wolinski, Stephane Charbonnier, Bernard Verlhac and Jean Cabut, four of France's most respected cartoonists were among the 12 employees gunned down.

Today, Irish Times cartoonist Martyn Turner spoke to Sean Moncrieff about the shooting and said it sounded like an attack on free speech and satire.

"I think even if the cartoonists say they're not frightened, I think there's a knock on effect because editors become very frightened and in many newspapers, not the Irish Times so much, editors have strict control over what the cartoonist does.

"One of the advantages of Charlie Hebdo was, it was edited by a cartoonist. They had more leeway in what they could say." 

"They achieved what they set out to do, it's been the big story for 24 hours. Isn't that what terrorism often tries to achieve?"

He also spoke about some of the staff from Charlie Hebdo that he met during his career.