Star Wars: The Last Jedi has had its Irish premiere at the Savoy Cinema in Dublin on Wednesday night.
The Skelligs, or planet Ahch-to as they are known to fans, feature largely in the film following on from their brief cameo at the end of The Force Awakens.
The production was granted four days to shoot on the Unesco world heritage site at Skellig Michael off the Kerry coast.
A hirsute Chewbacca, R2-D2 and a handful of storm troopers were on hand to take selfies with hundreds of fans who had gathered.
Minister for Transport Shane Ross was in attendance with his grandson, Edward Webb, and posed gamely with storm troopers for the snappers.
Had he taken the shiny new Luas to the Savoy cinema from a galaxy far, far away aka Sandyford?
“I didn’t get the Luas this evening as I had been out handing out leaflets earlier on but it is working fantastically. There are a few minor grumbles but they are minor teething issues which aren’t cause for concern,” he said.
“I’m not a Star Wars fan myself but I’m hoping to be after tonight, my grandson Edward here is terribly excited to see the movie tonight,” said Mr Ross.
Also in attendance was Minister for Business Heather Humphreys, who was minister for heritage when the Star Wars project was filmed.
Ms Humphreys admitted she has only seen one or two films in the franchise but also enjoyed posing with the assembled storm troopers and Chewbacca.
“It’s wonderful that this was filmed on location on the west coast of Ireland. It’s tremendous that rural locations are being showcased to the world now and I believe this film is amazing and a lot if it will show the beautiful scenery that we have in Ireland and I have no doubt that we will be huge in terms of attracting visitors from abroad,” she said.
“It’s a wonderful boost for the Irish film industry because Pillar four of the creative Ireland programme is about Irleand as a centre of excellence for media production and to see something like this being filmed on location in Ireland is huge and it gives encouragement and lets others see what we have to offer to the world,” she said.
