An Irish survivor of the Paris attacks says she thought she was going to die last Friday.

Katie Healy and her boyfriend David Nolan were in the Bataclan Theatre in the French capital.

Mr Nolan was shot but survived, and he shielded Ms Healy from the shots as the two 'played dead' on the ground while the massacre took place around them.

The two were enjoying a night out at the Eagles of Death Metal concert when three gunmen entered the hall, opened fire, and detonated suicide bombs, killing 89 people.

"Someone walked in behind us through the doors where we were pretty much in their target and people were getting shot around us", she told the Pat Kenny Show here on Newstalk.

"We fell to the ground, David covered me and the shooting just didn't stop".

"We got up and we ran a small bit, and the shooting started again...We fell straight on to the floor, on to a pile of bodies, really".

"The place was just palpable with death, really and you could taste it - because there was so much blood and other things around us".

"I told David 'this is it, I love you' - and he was telling me that he loved me, and he had himself over me at all times".

She says they just got up and ran.

"We ran - I remember running over dead bodies out a door".

"When we got to the door, we think someone was there with a gun - we don't know if it was a policeman or what, but we knew we were safe".

She says she thought David was in shock, not realising he had been shot.

Katie says David is in pain, traumatised but "strong beyond belief".

She also says it is still difficult to talk about - but called the terrorists "cowards".