Is it not a situation of pilots who are normally very happy to take on extra flights for significantly enhanced pay during the busy periods? It's simply not viable for Aer Lingus or the other airlines to hire hundreds of qualified pilots to cover the busy summer period when flight volumes are more than 7 times the average.And if Aer Lingus can't cope with the above without cancelling 20% of flights, aer lingus have an issue with staffing levels.
There's a very good reason the pilots planned the work to rule for this period.