I have no stake in this either way, but the following reality check is required for staff complaining about "having a life":
"Aer Lingus’ total booked passenger numbers in December 2010 were 572,000, a decrease of 25.3% compared to December 2009, the airline said.
Short haul booked passengers were 504,000, a 27.3% decrease on December 2009 while long haul booked passengers in December 2010 were 68,000, a decrease of 6.8% on December 2009."
With numbers like that, it doesn't take 7 years in university to realise that you would be more concerned about feeding the kids shortly, rather than "having a life". With due respect to crew, everyone who is still working in private business in Ireland these days is working very hard. Everything, as usual, is relative.