EI fleet development
I think the late 1980s and early 1990s must have been a hugely frustrating time for EI; the 763 would have been ideal for the ORD and BOS routes, but with no change in the SNN stopover policy, they were leased out; at one time, ALC served more cities in the UK from DUB than could be served from LHR by either BA or BD. But the biggest enemy was not BA or BD, it was its principal shareholder, the govt, which was running scared of the hugely powerful and vociferous SNN lobby.
In retrospect, the change to full Open Skies only happened about a year or so before things started going seriously south here, with the economy. On top of that, the "DubHub" was never really exploited fully, because DM was focused on "point to point" and many UK cities were wound down. It's just a history of missed opportunities.
That chance still exists, thanks to EI Express, but of course, with EI down to only four US destinations, it will only be a limited hub.
As to the A319, well it's certainly an improvement - capacity wise - on the A320; looking at the JP, I guess these must come from Iberia? They'd probably seat around 138-144 in EI configuration.