I think RYR find themselves between a rock and a hard place. They have manoeuvrered themselves into a position where there is no easy way out.
On one side, Norwegian and others can continue to take RYR pilots. I was quite surprised to see how quickly many of my collegues jumped ship. Other airlines only have to offer marginally better contracts and they will have a steady supply of well trained and efficient operators.
On the other side there are the movements within the pilot group. Even if Ryanair wants to get everybody on solid set of T&C's they run the risk of industrial action, there are many frustrated pilots in Ryanair ready for 'revenge'. This is something Ryanair cannot afford especially this summer where it seems we will be under-staffed. It's not only pilots leaving, lots of cabincrew are fed up as well.
So Ryanair are in a position where they are damned either way. And yes, this situation is entirely of their own making. Traditionally they have choosen to buckle up and weather the storm, and I think that that is what they will do this time again. We have allready seen the soft approach with the basing issues. Maybe we will see some more of this but I don't see how this will be enough to keep people from leaving.
I don't have any numbers on how many pilots are leaving or have left. From what I see its mostly the experienced F/O's (>2500h) and the more experienced captains that are leaving. Rumour is that the IAA is getting concerned with the overall experience levels on the flightdeck and may impose rostering restrictions, which will further complicate this summer's schedules.