Is skype present in repositories and can be downloaded?
In general, you can tell what is available from repositories by updating synaptic and seeing what it lists. To your question, yes, skype:i386 is in the repositories.
I can not keep Skype in Sparky repos - MS EULA doesn't let me do that.
Anyway, there is 'skype-installer' package in the repos, which lets you download and install Skype.
Some additional and useful info is in order for the everyday Skype user. Pavroo already knows the "ins and outs of it" but Microsoft decided in its latest re-emergence with Skype to only produce a 64-bit version, currently in Alpha.
I have briefly tested it and all seems to be working as advertised but look for problems until it finally reaches a proper release.
Paul (sasdthoh)