They had not missed the flight but were 2 minutes late at checkin. It seems this was due to a 5 hour delay on the ryanair flight into london. Ryanair will count them as having flown as far as pax stats go but will make extra profit by pocketing the tax that it collected but will not have to pass on to HMC&R.
Ryanair may be legal in what it does but not wise. I am sure than 1000s who read the story in the irish press will avoid ryanair where possible.