Sounds like a good idea, not sure how possible it would be though... I'm sure Orange has a lot of pony and non-pony related work on his plate, so maybe if someone else could work on the IRC, then maybe Orange could make it accessible from here later.

I wish I knew how to set one up.

I wouldn't mind hosting one, but I don't want to be accused of splitting up the community again. It sounds like Señor Derpyhooves is going to repair things and put it back online, so I'll leave chat to him.