[Plugin: wp-irc] Content variable missing in code

Fix your code add the variable $content to the textarea:

Line 477 at wp-irc.php, should be:
<textarea name="wp-irc-content" id="wp-irc-content" cols="20" rows="5" class="widefat"><?php echo $content; ?></textarea>

http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/wp-irc/