Agreed, pure nonsense.
For what it's worth I find the training department to be excellent, with the current lot very hot on SOPs whilst still encouraging us to hand fly as often as the conditions permit (not sure how many other airlines even let their pilots take the auto thrust out any more?)
Plenty of relatively cheap places near the airport to live, Swords is basically a town full of EI employees for example, although many choose to live in Dublin City. In my experience Dublin is better value than most other major European cities, but stay away from Temple Bar (although locals don't go out here anyway).
The bidding system generally works well and those who want the overnights tend to get a lot of them (Belfast, Cork, Shannon, London) so it is possible to save a bit of extra cash from these. Others bid for routes with better sector pay, higher hours (more performance pay) or simply easier days.
Decent union and a company that's performing well both on the Atlantic and in Europe, even with Ryanair competing against us in our own backyard.
Type rating paid for, uniform and licence, Crew food, parking, summer leave, pension, incremental pay scale, decent hotels and long haul opportunities if that floats your boat. Sure it's not perfect and we work hard in the summer, but I can't imagine working anywhere else.