If you're trying to port code and you can't figure out how to do it in one language, find out what said code does and Google it, or search for it on MSDN. It saves a lot of time simply looking for answers than trying to make your own; As the old saying goes, "why reinvent the wheel?"
IRC is actually not that hard to implement, I'm sure there are already classes out there to cater for it, however the hardest part about implementing IRC will be writing the code to handle the protocol, which Covey has likely already done unless he used an ActiveX control, so it wouldn't be that hard to port (you can still use COM objects in .Net anyway).
Personally I don't like porting other people's code and changing it though. Even though I said "Why reinvent the wheel", you become a better programmer writing your own code, what I said earlier was more or less so you can learn about what you need to do. If I put my mind to it, I could write a fully functional client with EliteSwitch's features and more in a day or two, but I see no point as I don't play RuneScape any more.
