Of course you can, and indeed should, compare non-passenger activities. There is more to an airport than what the passenger sees or experiences. It's no different to any other business; airports ought to pursue any projects or initiatives that generate a positive return on investment, regardless of whether they are passenger-related or not.
For example (on a smaller scale), a number of events (concerts and conferences etc) have been held in the SNN terminal building over the past two years. While the revenue generated is undoubtedly limited, these type of events help generate goodwill and publicity for the airport. These little things do matter.
My personal opinion is that airports need to make a greater effort to integrate themselves with the local community insofar as is practicable. Airports should be a force for good, both economically and socially. From an economic perspective, they have a duty to maximise the indirect and induced employment effects of the airport - attracting increased MRO activity, flying schools or aviation academies are potential options.
From a social perspective, a lot more needs to be done. They ought to be more proactive in facilitating school tours, student work placements, getting involved in local environmental initiatives, making airport marketing teams visible around the city centre at weekends, organising charity events, holding Christmas markets, providing free seminar/conference facilities etc. The list is endless, but from what I can see, little or no effort is being made in this respect. The local community needs to feel that the airport is truly "theirs". If people feel no emotional attachment to their local airport, the choice of airport (fly from Cork or drive to DUB) becomes purely an economic one. Building that emotional attachment takes time and effort, but in the long-run, if it could even help to attract just 5-10% of those passengers that drive to Dublin, it would be worthwhile. The Cork Airport brand comes across as a rather weak one, efforts like the above would help strengthen the value of the brand. Loyalty doesn't just happen, businesses need to earn it.
Might do some good however the daa wouldn't exactly stop all of this, local management would really be responsible for this. They are appealing to locals more now than they ever have. Just on one of the points, a lot of red tape around school tours so not all black and while.