Most irony goes unnoticed. Many people don’t really know what irony is.
I think troublemakers could use this fact to spread confusion by prefixing normal statements with, "I don’t mean to be ironic when I say this." Because irony is often non-apparent, people would spend a lot of energy and thought trying to find irony in places that it didn’t exist (or at least wasn’t intended).
I think it could also work, only slightly less well, with the classic, "no pun intended." Of course, in my case, troublemakers would say this only when there actually was no pun — intended or otherwise.
Am I the only one to point out that the very fact that you would draw attention to something being ironic when there was in fact no iron IS ironic?
I think the problem is that people misunderstand irony. Obviously, where irony is “when the actual outcome is the opposite of the expected outcome”, many people simply think that coincidences == irony; or that a paradox (“an assertion or sentiment seemingly contradictory, or opposed to common sense; that which in appearance or terms is absurd, but yet may be true in fact.” aka a self-contradicting statement) is irony when it is definately not. Though similar and easily confused.
Now, your previous statement is both ironic (because one would expect irony when there isn’t any, and vise versa), but also paradoxical because the truth of the matter (that there is/isn’t irony) is directly contradicted by your assertion that there is (might) be. And that is why I think your proposition is doubley (tripleY?) funny.
How ironic.