hi 997,
in same situation as you, irish guy , 300 hours , all first time passes but 35 , 4 mates of mine all trained modular in uk/usa all got in recently in last 2 years, but all under 30 , was talking to one recently about applying for ryanair , told me to forget about applying , only way for me is through contacts , unofficially not hiring over 30's without ryanair contacts in last 18 months. but then again you will have posters saying over they are over 30 years old and getting in last 12 months ?, i doubt it .there was a guy who posted a few months back, sent in 2 identical applications with different ages , and the application saying he was under 30 , he got called for the interview and apologised for the typo on age , but was rejected .
aer lingus , god only knows whats going on there ? cadet programmed advertised last sundays tribune. i can only imagine a lot of their pilots kids not qualified for their first officer programe so they set up a cadet program to get their kids in .
cheers