Speculation UFC star Conor McGregor about to snap up Howth mansion worth €15m

McGregor is believed to be interested in Censure House on Howth Head, which is one of the most expensive private houses to ever go on the market in Ireland and was previously owned by kidnap victim Jennifer Guinness.

Conor has already moved into the area after it emerged this week that the MMA fighter had purchased the local Waterside bar.

Owner Tommy Gaffney told the Sunday World he cannot confirm for certain that it was McGregor who bought the pub, as he dealt with an investment company.

The Sunday World first touched base with Mr Gaffney on Thursday afternoon about rumours McGregor had bought the Waterside and hours later it was leaked to the financial website The Currency, with Conor confirming afterwards the move on social media.

Mr Gaffney also owns The Summit pub in Howth and said that the publicans in the town and the wider community would welcome McGregor becoming a local businessman there.

"Good luck to anyone who can make an effort and do what they do in life to make a few quid and get on with it, so best of luck to him," Tommy told the Sunday World.

"All I can say is that at this point of time if it was him or somebody else, I'd say 'welcome to the business world in Howth'."

McGregor was spotted in the town in recent days, where his father owns a yacht which is moored in the local marina. It is called the '188', a jokey reference McGregor made to the amount of dole money he used get when he was an unemployed plumber.

The 33-year-old MMA star now hopes to be a billionaire within two years and is promising to bring a €3 million customised Lamborghini superyacht he recently purchased to Howth.

McGregor lives in a mansion near Straffan Co Kildare, having grown up in Lucan after moving there from his birthplace in Crumlin.

Asked if there's a possibility the fighter may be lining up to buy the Guinness mansion in Howth, Tommy replies: "I think he's a Crumlin man through and through, so maybe he wouldn't want to move out there."

McGregor already owns two pubs. He bought the Black Forge in his native Crumlin nearly two years ago for close to €2m and spent a further €1m turning it into a gastropub.

He spent a further €2m-plus buying the Marble Arch pub in Drimnagh, where he infamously assaulted a man who refused to drink an offer of his Proper 12 whiskey in the pub.

It has since emerged that McGregor is planning to build a €100m apartment complex on the site of the Marble Arch and adjacent lots.

McGregor returned to Ireland recently following several weeks of a 'booze cruise' with his family and friends around the Mediterranean on his superyacht.

He was pictured earlier this week taking off on a private plane with his sister Aoife, having earlier presented his other sister Erin with a Rolex watch worth €44,000 for her birthday.

The house McGregor appears interested in is located two-and-a-half miles from the village, off Ceanchor Road, called Censure House.

It is a six-bedroom property that includes a one-bedroom staff apartment.

It was built nearly 12 years ago on the site of an existing Regency villa named Ceanchor House that had belonged to the now deceased Jennifer Guinness.

When the Guinness home came to the market in 2007, the first time in about 100 years, it had a price tag of €12 million.

Set on about nine acres, it is set into the rockface and the house is sheltered from the elements by mature trees but boasts sea views to its south, east and west - all warmed by its south-facing aspect.

As well as major function areas, the mansion also boasts an indoor swimming pool.