By "no ir spectrum" he meandt of course "no vibrational spectrum" because there are no bonds to vibrate and absorb energy in the IR region. However, you do get atomic emission spectral lines in the IR due to transitions between higher electronic states. Think of the well known hydrogen emission lines with E = R(1/n12 - 1/n22). The Lyman series (n1 = 1) is in the UV; Balmer (n1 = 2) in the visible, Paschen, Brackett etc. in the IR. Generally, the energy difference between ground state and excited states is such that atomic absorption spectra occur in the visible or UV - so noble gases won't give an ir absorption spectrum.