BigJim,
Aer Arann is a very safe airline, and no crew would take off with Ice on the aircraft, It simply would not happen. The cabin crew know the correct procedure to be followed, and they know what to do if its not being followed by the flight crew.
The crew probably did use Icing procedures for departure, but you cant make a statement like;
leaving the tarmac much further down the runway at a greater speed than normal
I think the term de-icing fluid should give you a hint, you only use it if there is contamination frozen to the airplane. As it was 2 Degrees, and you said there was "Water" everywhere, its very likely that nothing was starting to freeze.
De-Icing fluid is upto 7quid a litre in places.
If the temperature is less than 5 degrees and there is visible moisture in the air below the acceleration altitude (MAN is 900ft), you must take special Icing procedures on takeoff.
This is purely a precaution, you may not actually pick up ice untill much higher than that. Thats probably why you were doing a much greater speed.
The two do not relate, De-Icing and an Icing Procedure takeoff, I don't want to confuse you, but theres another procedure to be followed if you have to use De-Icing fluid.
The fluid gets into all the areas of the controls and lets just say it doesn't lubricate them, most airlines will have both pilots "Pull" on rotation to aid the force.
There are no risks taken! It is a business at the end of the day. Can you imagine going back to your responsible person in your airline saying you spend 800euro on deicing fluid that wasn't required because a passenger said they weren't happy to go?