Reading through this thread, there appears to be fundamental misunderstanding of how elements of the aviation industry work.
EI do no own the hub in Dublin. IAG, nor any other airline don't need to purchase EI in order to operate a T/A hub through Dublin or Shannon, they can just simply go and negotiate rates with either the DAA or SAA, hire some staff (or outsource) then base a few widebodies at either airport, set up some low cost feeds and away you go.
It would seem that buying & integrating an existing legacy operator would the more difficult and expensive way of doing it.
That said some reports this morning are suggesting that the IAG bid valued EI at €1bn, which given that the company's gross cash position (the amount of cash they hold before deducting any debts) is over €900mn makes the valuation extremely low and, IIRC not too far off the old FR bid of some time ago.
JAS