Conor McGregor: World's Highest-paid Athlete In Bid For Major ...

With earnings of €148 million last year, bolstered in large part by the sale of a controlling interest in his Proper Twelve whiskey company to the drinks giant Proximo Spirits, he's the world's highest-paid athlete, notwithstanding his recent UFC 264 defeat to Dustin Poirier.

Having suffered a broken leg in that encounter that will keep him outside the octagon for the remainder of this year at least, Conor McGregor would appear to have decided to devote his considerable energies to some unfinished business closer to home.

Planning files at Kildare County Council show McGregor’s partner, Deirdre “Dee” Devlin, recently gave his personal assistant consent to seek planning permission on their behalf for works on their home in Castledillon.

As reported by The Irish Times at the time, McGregor acquired the property in a €3 million deal in July 2019 from Albert Reynolds jnr, the son of the former taoiseach.

The sale of the Paddocks, as it is known, is likely to have delivered a significant return for the late taoiseach’s son. The Residential Property Price Register shows that Reynolds acquired the property in February 2015 for €1.58 million.

A short drive from the K Club, McGregor's family home has five bedrooms, six bathrooms, a living room, a dining room, a kitchen and a games room. The property sits on substantial landscaped gardens with extensive frontage on to the River Liffey. In keeping with its name, the house comes with its own equestrian facilities.

The planning application submitted to Kildare County Council on behalf of McGregor and his partner shows they are looking to make significant alterations and additions to the house’s current configuration.

The proposed works include the demolition of the existing detached garage and the construction of a part-single, part-one-and-a-half-storey extension to the front, side and rear of the property.

The former UFC featherweight and lightweight champion is also hoping to relocate the house’s tennis court and to build a partially sunken basement under it that would contain a car park, gym and ancillary rooms.

McGregor and his partner are understood to have considered buying at least two other houses in Straffan and Barberstown before they settled on the purchase of their home in Castledillon.