JetSetJ,
Regarding Ryanair's need to applicants, I would suggest that they are doing ok - I can't comment on people getting rejected but i'd take with a pinch of salt anything you get on here regarding figures. With RYR your either a lover or a hater. There was a fair crop of people on the open day, and casual ear to the ground indicates to me that a fair few bods from OATS and Cabair are going there as well.
The current terms in the contract regarding base checks are thus:
If for whatever reason you fail to fulfil the terms and obligations of this Training Contract (for clarity this means you must be available for training for the full six months) you will liable to repay the Base Training costs of Euro5,072 (Euro845 per circuit) as well as any line training costs incurred as specified in Clause 2 above.
Basically if you screw up they can cut you (which frankly, any airline would be able to do) - it doesn't mention any retraining costs. Again, ear to the ground tells me that RYR will stump up a bit for base check training but it's not a blank chequebook.
Horgy