I think they know only to well at Knock that they did particularly well out of SNN downturn and ryanair demise. Maybe now its time for SNN to win back its share.
The passenger and airline market is there for any airport to compete for, they don't belong to any one airport. FR will decide where they put their metal.
The difference is NOC have spent 10 years building a lean low cost base and delivering efficiency to make that possible, self funding through it's passenger levy. They have built a solid network of sustainable routes against the odds and with relativly little state support, which has since been cut. It has to fund it's infrastructure program which is incomplete and will soon be unable to meet demand.
Their concern is that another airport is being handed a major competitive advantage by the Government in the form of writing off major infrastructure debts and proposals to provide operational funding and development grants in coming years as well as the resources of it's own development agency.