We’ve been trying desperately to track down as many Irish references as we could to 1980s kid’s cartoons. (Anyone know if Scooby Doo ever visited Ireland? Let us know!)

So far, we’ve come across these two gems.
 
Although not as easy to come across as in more recent cartoons – "The Simpsons" and "Family Guy" are both loaded with Irish jokes – we do know this: that in 1987, the "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" vacationed in Ireland. And the consequences were just hilarious!
 
Remember Krang and Shredder? (If you were born between say, 1977 and 1985, chances are you do. Or at least, you really should.)
 
That’s right – Krang and Shredder are the turtles’ arch-enemies. And back in 1987, when most people were leaving Ireland because the country was so poor and there were no jobs, these evil geniuses actually decided to use Ireland as a base for their Technodrome. (The Technodrome? Why that would be their semi-spherical shaped subterranean tank…)
 
With a device called the Rainbow Trans-Charmer, they turned harmless creatures like sheep and rabbits into dangerous animals.
 
In Dublin Zoo, April O’Neil – the Turtles ally and “ace TV reporter” vacationing with them in Ireland – gets trapped by these animals in the petting zoo. Luckily, she gets rescued by the Turtles. And later... to cut a short story shorter still... the Turtles kick Krang’s ass...Whew!
 
But nothing can beat Captain Planet and the Planeteers' trip to Belfast, in an episode called, “If It's Doomsday, This Must Be Belfast.” One of the Planeteers – young people from various corners of the earth with magical powers who save the world from pollution, war and other nasty things – arrives in Belfast to try to save the city from nuclear destruction.
 
For Irish accents that surely have to rank up there with Sean Connery’s in “Darby O’Gill and the Little People," and for a centuries-old struggle between Northern Ireland’s Protestants and Catholics told through the eyes of a superhero, check this clip out.