See Sula PrimeriX instead. Sula offers all the features that one would expect from an IRC client, plus many additions. For people used to text-oriented clients, using this client won't be a hurdle to easy irc'ing. For example, each channel window is like an IRC session of text-oriented clients. Also, any number of such windows may be connected to the same server.
More information is given in the documentation.
The program is widely extensible. See part 2 of the programming guide for info on extending sula using any programming languages of your choice.