Oh dear. Seems my question might be a bit naive. I wondered if Ryanair have some kind of official cancellation policy that can be used somehow to at least get airport taxes back. Further research on other forums suggests this is difficult. I'm going to be flying out on the same flight and don't want to hear her name being repeated over the tannoy - just adds insult to injury. Should have known better than to book with Ryanair.. had enough conversations with my pilot friend about a certain Leary O'Michael.
They are not interesting in pax cancelling flights. A fair amount of their "load factor" is not actual bums on seats, but unoccupied seats of those who book and do not show up. If those no-shows would have cancelled, they would not have been in the system any longer that produces those oh so healthy load factors....