The real reason....
Looks like the Irish and U.K. governments' plan to make all their taxpayers stay at home and spend money domestically rather than abroad is working;
With the airlines pulling off routes, the remaining carriers can put up their prices (supply goes down, demand goes up, price goes up);
So punters are less inclined to travel to the sun for a few weeks, and the Spanish don't really want to come here during our dull dark cold wet winter, so more tax revenue (V.A.T. on purchases, excise on alcohol, petrol, etc.) can be collected from Irish/British people staying at home and spending than would be gained by visitors staying and spending for a much shorter term on a narrower range of tax revenue generating streams.
Essentially, the government is using Ryanair's bolshieness to increase tax revenue by plugging one money leak out of the country; it was never about getting €10/£10 per punter per flight, it was to precipitate the eventual Ryanair 'throwing all the toys out of the crib' reaction and reduce availability of cheap flights full of spenders to other countries.