I could be a right b*stard and tell you that the Ethiopian crash as far as I'm aware involved an ex-Ryanair 737-800.
Whats your point?
Curious 2010, as a current Ryanair Pilot who has flown into Malta plenty of times I can assure you that as far as getting on a Ryanair aircraft you have nothing to fear. I could spend hours writing on here all the stats that prove that flying is remarkably safe but when you have a phobia, it's that rational thought process that tends to abandon us. We all have little fears that we can't rationalise and flying is probably the most common. I have had on plenty of occasions people who are nervous about flying come up on the flight deck when they board the aeroplane and we do our best to show them around the controls and what we'll be doing at various stages, explain what some of the noises they will here during the flight are etc etc. It does tend to relax people and more often than not they say at the end of the flight that it really helped them.
In terms of a flight safety issue I would say that you have no problem with either Airline and really you should make your choice based on your own comfort, cost and convenience.
If you have any particular questions regarding the flight itself please free to PM me and I'll do my best to help out.
Take care and happy flying.