I have to disagree with that, Slim Shady; that decision was taken after Open Skies came in, which allowed EI to bypass SNN on t/a flights as much as it wanted.
That said, its handling of the whole SNN issue was a
PR disaster, made worse by comments by various govt ministers that it would be willing to use its shareholding to protect ORK and DUB slots (but not SNN's)... boy, will they pay for that next time in any election or by-election.