The reality is that Ryanair never significantly, or even insignificantly influenced the future of Aer Lingus. Apart from IAG nobody else has/ever had any interest in buying/merging with it and that's happening only now when the long-running pensions problem has finally been resolved and the cost-reduction processes have been well advanced. Prior to that nobody would have touched them with a bargepole.
Surely, unless you're an EI board member, you cannot know wether this statement is true!