Seems very odd.
€150,000 for training costs plus a 'heavy bond' is excessive even at current training costs. It will also be very difficult to make any kind of repayment on borrowings of that magnitude at the minimum wage, or when working as an Operations Officer.
I don't understand why anyone would gain '6% merit' for passing an additional Irish oral test and Aer Lingus have no subsidiary airlines. Aer Arann are a franchisee who are not connected to EI as far as staffing is concerned, and as far as I can see we would gain little if anything from incubating seconded EI pilots for two years. When Aer Lingus are recruiting DEP's there is usually a pretty strong feed from Arann anyway, so wheres the point entering into a formal agreement?
Also I understand that FAS grants are available to all EU citizens not just Irish passport holders.
Stranger things have happened but does not add up for me yet.