Tanaiste Joan Burton has described the fatal attack on French publication Charlie Hebdo as abhorrent and an atrocity.

"I think anything which concerns the freedom of the press and indeed in this case the life of the press to be of very serious concern to everybody in the European Union, " she said.

"I just want to express my solidarity with particularly the people in the media community in France but also people in France in general."

Ms Burton said France had a long tradition of separating “religious matters and state matters” and that the issues of personal freedom and liberty were very important.

“My understanding, and we don’t have the full facts yet, is that the people involved indicated some allegiance to some extreme form of Islam.”

She said that judging by statements made by Muslims around the world the vast majority of the community do not condone behaviour such as that seen in Paris.

Ms Burton said it was very sad to see journalists “butchered in this way”.

Asked if Irish publications should refrain from publishing similar cartoons, the Tanaiste replied Ireland had a free press which was "one of the cornerstones of our democracy" and "I'm not going to tell the press how to do its business".