Irish students relive experience of Paris attacks

“All the artists, writers, students and staff had waited up for us - it was so nice to come home to.”

Trinity College law student Hazel Bergin, from Terenure, Dublin, was one of four young Irish people currently living in rooms at the Centre Culturel Irlandais (Irish Cultural Centre) who became embroiled in the aftermath of the attacks near the Stade de France on Friday.

The Erasmus year grouping suffered an anxious few minutes in the stadium following the blasts.

They became separated before re-uniting on the pitch, as they digested news of the scale of the events.

“It was a strange atmosphere. There were people crying, people reaching for their children and others taking selfies. We didn’t really know what was going on,” Ms Bergin said.

UCD commerce student, Sam Mosnier from Ballsbridge, said the most worrying moment for the group was when a stampede heading towards the RER metro station suddenly rushed back towards the stadium.

“I have never experienced anything quite as scary as when the crowed started running at us and we didn’t know whether we would be trampled on. I thought there was someone ahead shooting at them,” he said.

As the group eventually started to make their journey back to the centre they were forced to switch trains due to a bomb alert.

However, Hazel Bergin said the police presence had a calming effect.

“If it hadn’t been for them we would have been in a much worse headspace.”

Back at their accommodation the group reflected on the experience.

With a French father and an Irish mother, Sam Mosnier felt the experience had affected him.

“You feel part of the French people - it happened to you too.”

Just two years into her tenure as director of the centre, Nora Hickey M'Sichili shepherded many of those connected to the Irish Cultural Centre through Friday's tragic events.

As well as monitoring the return of the students from the Stade de France and giving refuge to more than a dozen people who were afraid to return to the affected areas, she was told that a French member of staff was hiding inside the Bataclan.

“After that we were just waiting. Only when police stormed the building was he able to escape and then we got the text to say he was okay.”

“He’s a very sensitive person, I can imagine he’s exhausted and he’s resting this weekend. I told him to take some time off but he insisted he’ll be back to work on Monday.”

Nora Hickey M’Sichili said over recent weeks she noted a shift in the atmosphere of the city, with a visible increase in military patrols.

“Two weeks ago around Notre Dame my husband said to me: ‘This is not normal, what do these soldiers know?’

“We did have a sense that something was in the air.”

On Thursday, the Irish Cultural Centre hosted its largest-ever exhibition opening.

“We had 500 people in attendance, our best turn-out ever. We were on a high, but now this.”

‘I’m still shaking’

Almost 24 hours after the attacks, former artist-in-residence at the Irish Cultural Centre Roseanne Lynch admitted she hadn't slept.

“I’m still shaking - I can feel my heart beating.”

Visiting the city for the Paris Photo fair, the Cork-based photographer and three friends left the Grand Palais and decided to dine at Bones restaurant close to Boulevard Voltaire.

“We saw sirens but we thought it was just Paris. Then the owner told us he was moving us downstairs.”

Her group spent five hours in the cramped cellar of the restaurant with nine other diners and staff.

She kept in touch with family in Ireland as events unfolded but only the next day did she reveal to them that she had been just hundreds of metres from danger.

“At first we were jollying along not understanding how serious things were.

“Then as the information came through there was this huge wave of sadness, a real sense of the human tragedy that was unfolding so close by.”

She said that she bonded with strangers in the cellar.

“In a way it was easier to be inside the cordon because we knew we were safe, the French staff weren’t letting us walk anywhere.

“I’m so touched by those people and what they did for us.”

As the extent of the carnage emerged, she said that she struggled to make sense of her emotions.

“You start thinking you’ve no right to feel anything. There are parents who have lost their children.

“You don’t know what you’re justified in feeling. Even saying ‘I’m okay’ seems selfish.”