Exactly. Which is going to make IAG more money on a morning slot in LHR: a flight from a large European city like say Milan or Hamburg, or a flight from a regional airport like ours? 1.6 million passengers used SNN in 2014, many cities that flights arrive into LHR from in that busy morning period have populations bigger than that, remember it's when the majority of arrivals from the US arrive, BA's biggest money spinner. A slot pair at that time costs between 30 and 40 million pounds....how many years do you reckon it woukd take for a SNN flight to pay that off?
Dublin-London is the second busiest air route in the world, of course it's going to get priority from ANY airline looking to link London with this Island, it's an absolute gold mine!