France has declared a state of emergency after at least 120 people were killed in coordinated attacks across Paris on Friday night. 

Speaking to Sarah Carey this morning, Irishman Darran Lovely spoke about what has been happening in the French capital over night, and what he saw in the wake of the attacks on the streets of Paris. 

He explained that "all three incidents took place within maybe one, one and a half kilometres", in close proximity to one another.

"I was down in that area itself and I saw that all the streets had been closed off. The details hadn't been confirmed and there was a lot of speculation," said Lovely.

"I was close enough to the Bataclan later, there again people were in a state of shock, trying to get to grips with what happened". 

Describing the situation in the capital today, he stated that "it's complete lockdown, Franocois Hollande declared a state of emergency last night, and as I was coming home after midnight, about one o'clock, the restaurants and bars, any place where people were congregating had been closed". He added that "they've told people to stay indoors while there's still a question mark over the number of assailants".

Lovely stated that he's been able to account for almost all his friends in the city thanks to Facebook: "that's the upside of social media, a lot of Irish people in Paris have been checking in to let everyone know that they're safe". He also added that the Irish citizens had also been able to turn to the embassy for further help.

Speaking about how the attacks had affected the mood in the city, he said "I've been in Paris about 10 years, and when I came over here initially as a student there were riots in December 2005. That was quite significant at the time, a number of people were killed, and then at the start of this year there was the Charlie Hebdo massacre [...] there has been a continued armed police presence in the city, that was noticeable that had continued. That did give me a heightened sense of security, they were positioned mainly in train station and Jewish schools and synagogues as those attacks were very much targeted on the Jewish population in Paris".

However, he added that "these attacks are, the Stade de France, the Bataclan, the Petit Cambodge restaurant...these are all places where people go out and socialise and enjoy themselves at the weekend, they're all popular spots and that's what has really hit home".

"There was a huge sense of shock, a sense of fear that we could all have easily been there". 

You can listen to the full interview below: