I'm not disputing that Aer Lingus simply responded to the market pressures. Perhaps they didn't entirely skip the full service phase of the market, but it certainly was an abbreviated phase in Ireland.
To be honest, I'm typically only 1 to 2 hours on Aer Lingus planes so I can tolerate the (lack of) service, but I still wish they had a short-haul product of some sort that makes it feel less like a Ryanair that flies to hubs.