CAPA have a good article out today analysing Ryanair's takeover attempts of Aer Lingus for anyone interested:
Ryanair's tenacious quest to acquire Aer Lingus matches the EC's equally tenacious drive to probe | CAPA - Centre for Aviation
Interestingly it makes the point that although Ryanair would offer concessions on the number of routes Ryanair and Aer Lingus would operate on, Ryanair would be able to offer a huge amount of feeder traffic to Dublin from it's 51 bases if Aer Lingus' transatlantic operation were to be expanded.