diff --git a/src/net/java/sip/communicator/impl/protocol/irc/IrcStack.java b/src/net/java/sip/communicator/impl/protocol/irc/IrcStack.java
index ce224305b..4d6fd89c7 100644
--- a/src/net/java/sip/communicator/impl/protocol/irc/IrcStack.java
+++ b/src/net/java/sip/communicator/impl/protocol/irc/IrcStack.java
@@ -1034,8 +1034,8 @@ public void onUserNotice(UserNotice msg)
                     OperationSetBasicInstantMessaging.HTML_MIME_TYPE,
                     OperationSetBasicInstantMessaging.DEFAULT_MIME_ENCODING, "");
             Contact from =
-                IrcStack.this.provider.getPersistentPresence().findContactByID(
-                    user);
+                IrcStack.this.provider.getPersistentPresence()
+                    .findOrCreateContactByID(user);
             IrcStack.this.provider.getBasicInstantMessaging()
                 .fireMessageReceived(message, from);
         }
diff --git a/src/net/java/sip/communicator/impl/protocol/irc/OperationSetPersistentPresenceIrcImpl.java b/src/net/java/sip/communicator/impl/protocol/irc/OperationSetPersistentPresenceIrcImpl.java
index a209bc559..1c5aad015 100644
--- a/src/net/java/sip/communicator/impl/protocol/irc/OperationSetPersistentPresenceIrcImpl.java
+++ b/src/net/java/sip/communicator/impl/protocol/irc/OperationSetPersistentPresenceIrcImpl.java
@@ -44,23 +44,9 @@ protected OperationSetPersistentPresenceIrcImpl(
     
     private ContactIrcImpl createVolatileContact(String id)
     {
-        // Check whether a volatile group already exists and if not create
-        // one
+        // Get non-persistent group for volatile contacts.
         ContactGroupIrcImpl volatileGroup = getNonPersistentGroup();
 
-        if (volatileGroup == null)
-        {
-            volatileGroup =
-                new ContactGroupIrcImpl(this.parentProvider, this.rootGroup,
-                    IrcActivator.getResources().getI18NString(
-                        "service.gui.NOT_IN_CONTACT_LIST_GROUP_NAME"));
-
-            this.rootGroup.addSubGroup(volatileGroup);
-            
-            this.fireServerStoredGroupEvent(volatileGroup,
-                ServerStoredGroupEvent.GROUP_CREATED_EVENT);
-        }
-
         // Create volatile contact
         ContactIrcImpl newVolatileContact =
             new ContactIrcImpl(this.parentProvider, id, volatileGroup);
@@ -87,7 +73,17 @@ private ContactGroupIrcImpl getNonPersistentGroup()
                 return gr;
         }
 
-        return null;
+        ContactGroupIrcImpl volatileGroup =
+            new ContactGroupIrcImpl(this.parentProvider, this.rootGroup,
+                IrcActivator.getResources().getI18NString(
+                    "service.gui.NOT_IN_CONTACT_LIST_GROUP_NAME"));
+
+        this.rootGroup.addSubGroup(volatileGroup);
+
+        this.fireServerStoredGroupEvent(volatileGroup,
+            ServerStoredGroupEvent.GROUP_CREATED_EVENT);
+
+        return volatileGroup;
     }
 
     public ContactGroup getRootGroup()