diff --git a/Network/IRC/Conduit.hs b/Network/IRC/Conduit.hs
--- a/Network/IRC/Conduit.hs
+++ b/Network/IRC/Conduit.hs
@@ -47,15 +47,22 @@
 import Control.Applicative      ((*>))
 import Control.Concurrent       (newMVar, takeMVar, putMVar, threadDelay)
 import Control.Concurrent.Async (Concurrently(..))
+import Control.Exception        (catch)
 import Control.Monad            (when)
 import Control.Monad.IO.Class   (MonadIO, liftIO)
 import Data.ByteString          (ByteString)
 import Data.Conduit             (Conduit, Consumer, Producer, (=$), ($$), (=$=), awaitForever, yield)
 import Data.Conduit.Network     (AppData, clientSettings, runTCPClient, appSource, appSink)
-import Data.Conduit.Network.TLS (tlsClientConfig, runTLSClient)
+import Data.Conduit.Network.TLS (TLSClientConfig(..), tlsClientConfig, runTLSClient)
 import Data.Monoid              ((<>))
+import Data.Text                (unpack)
+import Data.Text.Encoding       (decodeUtf8)
 import Data.Time.Clock          (NominalDiffTime, getCurrentTime, addUTCTime, diffUTCTime)
+import Data.X509.Validation     (FailedReason(..))
+import Network.Connection       (TLSSettings(..))
 import Network.IRC.Conduit.Internal
+import Network.TLS              (ClientParams(..), ClientHooks(..), Supported(..), TLSException, Version(..), defaultParamsClient)
+import Network.TLS.Extra        (ciphersuite_all)
 import System.IO.Error          (catchIOError)
 
 -- *Conduits
@@ -130,8 +137,27 @@
 
 -- |Like 'ircClient', but with TLS.
 ircTLSClient :: Int -> ByteString -> IO () -> Consumer (Either ByteString IrcEvent) IO () -> Producer IO IrcMessage -> IO ()
-ircTLSClient port host = ircWithConn . runTLSClient $ tlsClientConfig port host
+ircTLSClient port host = ircWithConn . runTLSClient . mangle $ tlsClientConfig port host
+  where
+    -- Override the certificate validation and allowed ciphers.
+    mangle tlsSettings = tlsSettings
+                         { tlsClientTLSSettings = TLSSettings cpara
+                           { clientHooks = (clientHooks cpara)
+                             { onServerCertificate = validate }
+                           , clientSupported = (clientSupported cpara)
+                             { supportedVersions = [TLS12, TLS11, TLS10]
+                             , supportedCiphers = ciphersuite_all }}}
+      where
+        cpara = defaultParamsClient (unpack $ decodeUtf8 host) ""
 
+        -- Make the TLS certificate validation a bit more generous. In
+        -- particular, allow self-signed certificates.
+        validate cs vc sid cc = do
+          -- First validate with the standard function
+          res <- (onServerCertificate $ clientHooks cpara) cs vc sid cc
+          -- Then strip out non-issues
+          return $ filter (/=SelfSigned) res
+
 -- |Run the IRC conduits using a provided connection.
 ircWithConn :: ((AppData -> IO ()) -> IO ())
             -- ^The initialised connection.
@@ -139,7 +165,7 @@
             -> Consumer (Either ByteString IrcEvent) IO ()
             -> Producer IO IrcMessage
             -> IO ()
-ircWithConn runner start cons prod = go `catchIOError` ignore
+ircWithConn runner start cons prod = (go `catch` raiseTLS) `catchIOError` ignore
   where
     -- Start the connection and concurrently run the initialiser,
     -- event consumer, and message sources: terminating as soon as one
@@ -152,3 +178,6 @@
 
     -- Ignore all exceptions and just halt.
     ignore _ = return ()
+
+    -- Rethrow TLS exceptions as IO exceptions
+    raiseTLS = const . ioError $ userError "TLS exception" :: TLSException -> IO ()
diff --git a/irc-conduit.cabal b/irc-conduit.cabal
--- a/irc-conduit.cabal
+++ b/irc-conduit.cabal
@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@
 -- PVP summary:      +-+------- breaking API changes
 --                   | | +----- non-breaking API additions
 --                   | | | +--- code changes with no API change
-version:             0.1.0.1
+version:             0.1.1.0
 
 -- A short (one-line) description of the package.
 synopsis:            Streaming IRC message library using conduits.
@@ -74,6 +74,7 @@
                      , Network.IRC.Conduit.Internal.Messages
 
   ghc-options:         -Wall
+                       -threaded
   
   -- LANGUAGE extensions used by modules in this package.
   -- other-extensions:    
@@ -84,11 +85,15 @@
                      , bytestring    >=0.10
                      , conduit       >=1.2
                      , conduit-extra >=1.1
+                     , connection
                      , irc           >=0.6
                      , irc-ctcp      >=0.1.1
                      , network-conduit-tls >=1.1
+                     , text          >=1.0
                      , time          >=1.4
+                     , tls
                      , transformers  >=0.3
+                     , x509-validation
   
   -- Directories containing source files.
   -- hs-source-dirs: