Its a way of highlighting to the electorate that you were prepared to invest but politicians not interested.
The problem is that Ryanair are usually asking the government to do the investing, and the airports to provide services for free. The justification being that Ryanair will then stimulate the economy by brining pax in, however it doesnt always work out that way and there have been a few airports that have been fleeced by FR taking and not giving in return or dropping routes as soon as the subsidies run out.