Comment 2 for bug 471521

Had a look in /etc/default and found a backup of the irda-utils file dated from before the upgrade to 9.10 Copied the backup over the new file and this seemed to solve the problem.

this is the irda-utils file that failed to work
# Set your startup settings for irattach, the IrDA-daemon, here.

# Set this to 'false' if you do not need to start irattach. Otherwise set it
# to 'true'.
ENABLE="false"

# Set this to 'false' if you do not want automatic discovery of irda devices.
# If 'true', it will automatically start irattach if devices are found.
AUTOMATIC="true"

# Set discovery mode which usually is a good idea for finding other devices.
# If set 'true' or 'false' irattach and sysctl are used to enable and disable
# discovery mode. By default discover mode is disabled.
DISCOVERY="true"

# Set IRDA device to access (e.g. /dev/ttyS1 or irda0).
# In case of irda0, the proper module for FIR-mode has to be set in
# /etc/modutils/irda-utils (2.4) or /etc/modprobe.d/irda-utils (2.6)
#DEVICE="/dev/ttyS1"
#DEVICE="/dev/irda0"
DEVICE="irda0"

# Set dongle type, e.g. none, tekram, esi, actisys, actisys+, ep7211, girbil,
# litelink, airport, old_belkin, mcp2120, act200l, ma600). You do not need
# a dongle for FIR mode.
DONGLE="none"

# Set the serial device to quiet with setserial. This is only useful on some
# machines in FIR-mode, so most people should leave it blank. See
# README.Debian for more information.
#SETSERIAL=""
#SETSERIAL="/dev/ttyS1"
SETSERIAL="/dev/ttys0""

# Some laptops (Toshiba Satellites and others with SMCS LPC47N227) require
# running smcinit to initialize the irda device prior to use.
# If you device is one of them, set this option to "yes"
USE_SMCINIT="no"
SMCINIT="no"

This is the previous version that seems to have fixed the problem
# Set your startup settings for irattach, the IrDA-daemon, here.

# Set this to 'false' if you do not need to start irattach. Otherwise set it
# to 'true'.
ENABLE="false"

# Set this to 'false' if you do not want automatic discovery of irda devices.
# If 'true', it will automatically start irattach if devices are found.
AUTOMATIC="true"

# Set discovery mode which usually is a good idea for finding other devices.
# If set 'true' or 'false' irattach and sysctl are used to enable and disable
# discovery mode. By default discover mode is disabled.
DISCOVERY="true"

# Set IRDA device to access (e.g. /dev/ttyS1 or irda0).
# In case of irda0, the proper module for FIR-mode has to be set in
# /etc/modutils/irda-utils (2.4) or /etc/modprobe.d/irda-utils (2.6)
DEVICE="/dev/ttyS1"

# Set dongle type, e.g. none, tekram, esi, actisys, actisys+, ep7211, girbil,
# litelink, airport, old_belkin, mcp2120, act200l, ma600). You do not need
# a dongle for FIR mode.
DONGLE="none"

# Set the serial device to quiet with setserial. This is only useful on some
# machines in FIR-mode, so most people should leave it blank. See
# README.Debian for more information.
SETSERIAL=""

# Some laptops (Toshiba Satellites and others with SMCS LPC47N227) require
# running smcinit to initialize the irda device prior to use.
# If you device is one of them, set this option to "yes"
USE_SMCINIT="no"