diff --git a/CHANGELOG b/CHANGELOG
index 596b2bf6d..e0dcbd9df 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG
+++ b/CHANGELOG
@@ -2,6 +2,9 @@
   ## inputs
   - bugfix: lumberjack now respects field data again (lumberjack --field foo=bar)
 
+  ## outputs
+  - feature: irc output now supports 'secure' setting to use ssl (LOGSTASH-139)
+
 1.1.10 (April 16, 2013)
   ## general
   - On linux, all threads will set their process names so you can identify
diff --git a/lib/logstash/outputs/irc.rb b/lib/logstash/outputs/irc.rb
index f3a7d0b9f..ea1d5e068 100644
--- a/lib/logstash/outputs/irc.rb
+++ b/lib/logstash/outputs/irc.rb
@@ -36,6 +36,9 @@ class LogStash::Outputs::Irc < LogStash::Outputs::Base
   # Message format to send, event tokens are usable here
   config :format, :validate => :string, :default => "%{@message}"
 
+  # Set this to true to enable SSL.
+  config :secure, :validate => :boolean, :default => false
+
   public
   def register
     require "cinch"
@@ -52,6 +55,7 @@ class LogStash::Outputs::Irc < LogStash::Outputs::Base
       c.realname = @real
       c.channels = @channels
       c.password = @password.value rescue nil
+      c.ssl.use = @secure
     end
     Thread.new(@bot) do |bot|
       bot.start