That's interesting. I often fly on the return leg of that Cork - Bristol flight that goes back to Dublin in the evening and usually find the crews to be fine. They're not as polished or as friendly as EI mainline, as you say, but I find them more busy and tired than unfriendly (usually, I imagine because the flight is running hours late and they're going to be home very late... again).

If the service is bad though, I'd recommend complaining even if Emerald don't respond. While I find the people fine, I find Emerald's operations to be a total mess, and think it's always worth letting EI know the damage they are doing to EI's brand.