This will see Tayto, along with Hunky Dorys, King and Perri, now fully owned by the German food company, Intersnack.

Coyle has no doubt done well out of the deal, having bought the brand for €68m in 2006. He is a man well used to doing deals and having a spot of fun. Not only has he built a roller coaster in his backyard for €2.4m, spent €10m developing Tayto Park and brought Mr Tayto to life, his real stroke of genius was when he decided to raffle his farm in order to pay down debt in the early 1980s.

Faced with huge debts after buying land, he decided to sell 4,000 tickets at £300 a pop, and raised the £1.2m required to clear his debts.

Who said a businessman couldn’t have a sense of imagination?