By Debbie McGoldrick

WHAT’S inspiring Michael Jackson these days? None other than the Irish countryside.

Jacko was on Access Hollywood last week, briefly interviewed by correspondent Billy Bush about music and his future career plans. The reclusive star, who bolted the U.S. after he was acquitted on child molestation charges last year, let the cameras roll while he worked on a new collaboration with a fellow called will.i.am, best known for his work as a member of the Black Eyed Peas.

“Ireland has inspired me to make a great album. I have never given up on making music,” Jackson told Bush. The interview was filmed at the Grouse Lodge cottage and recording studio in Co. Westmeath, where Jackson stayed and recorded for a while last month.

Jacko and his three kids have been rumored to be living in Ireland since the late summer -– one rumor had him begging for (and being denied) Ryder Cup tickets, another said he was planning to open a leprechaun theme park –- but the interview in Westmeath was the only credible Irish sighting.

“Michael was there with his children. I never saw them but the studio’s owner said they were having a ball, playing with his children and enjoying the exquisite countryside. According to the owner, Michael gets up in the morning and makes breakfast for them... usually porridge and fruit,” Bush wrote on his show’s blog page.

The Jackson clan left Westmeath, apparently, as fast as they got there, and his whereabouts since are unknown, though he is set to appear at the World Music Awards in London on November 15 -– only a hop, skip and a jump from wherever he’ll be in Ireland.

Not that there haven’t been numerous other alleged sightings of the unusual family. One woman claimed to have seen them at a kid’s place called Jumping Jacks in Tullamore, Co. Offaly, where Daddy Jacko, clad in a cowboy hat, happily let his veiled brood play with the local kids for about two hours.

“Of all the places in Ireland, I didn’t think Tullamore would be the hub of entertainment,” she said.

And she was right. The owner of the play place said the Jacksons were not customers.