Tayto Park is planning to build a €14m (US$15.8m, £12.29m) steel rollercoaster, with the Irish theme park's management calling the new attraction "vital to the longer-term viability" of the attraction.

Expected to boost visitor numbers by 15 per cent, the currently-named "Coaster 2021" is a step closer to being built with planning permission recently granted by Meath County Council.

The park hopes to build the attraction in 2020 and open it to the public in 2021. The ride will be supplied by Vekoma, and will be the same height as Tayto Park’s 32-metre (105ft) high Cù Chulainn wooden coaster, but will be 400 metres (1,312ft) longer. It would create an additional 40 full or part-time jobs, according to the park.

Reports in Irish media suggest that documents with the theme park’s planning application state the necessity of introducing new attractions every two to three years to maintain visitor numbers. Cù Chulainn opened in June 2015. Tayto Park expects 630,000 visitors in 2019, and projects 725,000 to visit in 2023, if the new ride is built. Pre-tax profits increased to €3.65m (US$4.12m, £3.2m) in 2017, on revenues of €17.53m (US$19.78m, £15.4m) – an increase of 5 per cent.

There remains a possibility that Meath County Council’s planning permission decision could be appealed, however, with local residents fearing negative impacts for noise pollution, traffic, litter, privacy and property values.