Thank you for making your
demands so clear
If you cannot connect to the irc.dal.net server pool then it's due to the fact that your physical location isn't in an area covered by DALnet's new 'IX servers'.
Try connecting to an individual IRC server, some suggestions
here.
If you can connect to other IRC networks but not DALnet then obviously is due to a problem with DALnet, you might want to wait a few hours and then try again, they might have server issues (netsplits, servers full, etc.). Other than the above, not much you can do.
Regards,
