I called into BenShaws on my way to the bus, and the barman said they're back open permanently. So that's one problem solved.
The meeting happened in Mahaffeys tonight, there was a turn out of 5, (crap weather and last minute dissorganisation wouldn't help), but I think we got loads sorted. Glenn said he'll post the minutes some time next week (for some reason).
The other thing is IRC:
The channel is #fs-ie and the server is irc.gnu.org or irc.freenode.org (the former points to the latter, so either will do).
To log into the channel, if you have BitchX installed, use: shell:"bitchx -c #fs-ie -n yourusername irc.gnu.org"
and that's all.
The other popular console client is "irssi", and the popular gui client is "xchat". For people living in sin, Mozilla's "chatzilla" runs on all your shameful operating systems (as well as the GNU's and BSD's).
If you want to register your username, once you're logged on, you can type : irc:"/msg nickserv register yourpassword"
and then other people won't be able to steal your username (valueable IP!) Although you might have to verify your identity in future with: irc:"/msg NickServ IDENTIFY yourpassword
The only other useful commands I know are irc:"/who" which tells you who else is currently logged in, and irc:"/quit" which, well.. yeh.
Other docs and info can be found on: http://www.freenode.org/
When we get a bit used to it, we should be able to hold non-geographically-limited meetings etc., or quick meetings to sort out things etc. etc. (I won't be logged in much 'til sunday evening though)