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Tourism in Ireland is set to suffer a blow following reports that the next two films in the Star Wars saga won’t be shooting here.

It has been claimed filmmakers won’t be returning due to environmental reasons on the iconic island of Skellig Michael in Co Kerry.

It will be a bitter blow for tourism after it was estimated that filming scenes for Star Wars: The Force Awakens generated around €4.4million for the Irish economy.

Jason Ward, editor of fansite MakingStarWars.net, said: “The Skellig Michael sets have been built and in some cases recreated at Pinewood.

“The location of the set at Pinewood is the same place they filmed the Jakku village scenes for The Force Awakens.

“Filming at Skellig Michael was just too complicated for environmental reasons.

“Migrating birds have more power than any corporation over that isle.”

This news has yet to be confirmed by Disney or Lucasfilm.

Director JJ Abrams and actor Mark Hamill arrived in Ireland to use the iconic landmark as the secret lair of Hamill’s iconic character, Jedi Knight Luke Skywalker. The panoramic view of the island at the end of the film provided a breathtaking shot of the landscape.

Luke Skywalker even had time to pop into a bar in Portmagee and learn to pull pints of Guinness.

Tourism Ireland chief Niall Gibbons was keen to align Ireland with the film series, but could see those associations dramatically altered if the crew doesn’t return.

He previously said: “The opportunity to associate the Ireland brand with the Star Wars brand is something that’s going to be good for all of us.

“The release of The Force Awakens presents Tourism Ireland with a truly unique opportunity to highlight the South West and Ireland in 2016.”

The loss of the film will be a hammer blow after a highly-successful 2015 saw over eight million people visit these shores. The latest figures from the Central Statistics Office showed an extra 500,000 holidaymakers came here in the first nine months of last year – a rise of 19%.

And more importantly for the economy, revenue from overseas visitors jumped by 18% during this period – an additional €500million compared to 2014.