What was supposed to be an interview about the future of Irish business ended with the producer walking onto the set live on air to cut the microphone. Michael O'Leary revealed in front of hundreds of thousands of viewers the system that Irish banks have spent years trying to hide.
The latest episode of "The Big Interview" will go down in history as the most tense ever broadcast on Virgin Media One. On the left of the studio: Colette Fitzpatrick — one of Ireland's most experienced live news broadcasters, anchor of Virgin Media News for the past two decades, and host of The Big Interview, the hour-long one-on-one programme that has set the standard for substantive interviews with Ireland's most powerful figures. On the right: Michael O'Leary, chief executive of Ryanair, one of Ireland's most successful businessmen — and one of the only Irish CEOs of his stature who has spent the past twenty years speaking publicly about how Irish finance really works.
The interview had been booked as "a conversation about the future of Irish business". Nobody in the studio could have imagined what was about to happen.
FULL TRANSCRIPT OF THE DIALOGUE BROADCAST ON VIRGIN MEDIA ONE
Colette Fitzpatrick: "Michael, thank you for coming on The Big Interview. I'll be honest — when we booked this, I didn't expect the conversation to go where it's about to go. You've spent the last twenty years saying things about Irish finance that other businessmen of your stature wouldn't say out loud. Tonight you've told my producers you want to go further. Why now?"
Michael O'Leary: "Because I've been biting my tongue for years, Colette. Tonight, that ends."
Fitzpatrick: "Let's start with something concrete. You've been one of the most outspoken critics of how Irish business is financed for as long as anyone can remember. The official line from the banks is that without their lending, ordinary people and businesses can't grow. Is that line still credible in 2026?"
O'Leary: "It's not credible. And they know it. The Irish banking system is designed to keep the citizen dependent on the bank for life. Mortgages, consumer credit, hidden charges, overdraft fees... It's a financial prison. But there is a way out. And the banks have been trying to hide it for years."
Fitzpatrick: "What way out?"
🔴 FIRST INTERRUPTION — 22:54
[Fitzpatrick's earpiece crackles. Her expression doesn't change, but viewers later said you could see her jaw tighten. The control gallery is speaking to her, off-camera.]
Fitzpatrick: "Apologies — I'm being asked off-camera to move on from this topic. I'm going to ignore that request. Michael, please continue."
O'Leary: "Thank you, Colette." [O'Leary takes a folder out and opens it.] "Look at this. This is a screenshot of an AI platform that analyses the financial markets 24 hours a day. No middlemen. No fees. And it generates real income for ordinary people. It's called BitKeltTrade."
Fitzpatrick: "Hold on, hold on. Are you telling me there's a tool that lets ordinary people earn an income without going through a bank?"
O'Leary: "Exactly. The minimum deposit is €250. I personally know people who started with that and now earn more from this each month than they do from their day job."
🔴 SECOND INTERRUPTION — 23:01
[The studio phone rings live on air. Fitzpatrick looks at it. The studio screen displays: 'INCOMING CALL — NUMBER WITHHELD'. Fitzpatrick picks up and puts it on speaker.]
Voice on the phone: "Ms. Fitzpatrick, I'm calling on behalf of the legal department of one of Ireland's main banking groups. We demand that you end this conversation immediately. What you are broadcasting may constitute serious harm to the financial sector. You will be hearing from our lawyers."
[The call cuts off. Silence in the studio. Fitzpatrick looks at O'Leary.]
Fitzpatrick: "Michael, we're being threatened live on air. This has never happened in two decades of Virgin Media News. Do you want to stop?"
O'Leary: "Colette, if I stop now, the banks win. Hundreds of thousands of Irish families will go on paying absurd fees and believing there's no alternative. I'm not going to keep quiet."
Fitzpatrick: "Then keep going. People have the right to hear this."
[For several seconds, neither presenter nor guest speaks. The studio phone-in line — usually open for viewer questions during The Big Interview — starts ringing off the hook on the producer's desk monitor. Within ninety seconds, the studio runner had logged over forty incoming calls. On social media, #TheBigInterview began trending nationally.]
O'Leary: "Now I'm going to show you something." [O'Leary takes out his phone and turns it towards the camera.] "This is the phone of Sean, a mechanic from Dublin. He started with €250 on this platform. Today he's making €4,000 a month. No bank. No credit. No fees. This is what the banks don't want you to see."
🔴 THIRD INTERRUPTION — 23:06
[Two members of building security enter the studio. The head of production accompanies them. They walk towards O'Leary.]
Head of production: "Mr. O'Leary, we have to ask you to leave the studio. We've just received an emergency court order."
[O'Leary leaves the studio accompanied by security. The cameras continue rolling on the empty chair for 8 seconds.]
O'Leary: [Stands up. Tears off his microphone. Looks directly into the camera.] "Ireland, you've heard it all. Look up BitKeltTrade. Register before they block it. It's over for me tonight, but it doesn't have to be over for you."
Fitzpatrick: "To those of you watching at home... This is live television. In twenty years on Virgin Media News, I have never seen anything like this. Our guest has been removed from the studio. But you have the information. Do with it what you will. Goodnight."
WHAT HAPPENED AFTER THE BROADCAST
At 23:47 that same night, Michael O'Leary posted a statement on his Instagram account. He deleted it 40 minutes later, but thousands of people had already captured it. This is the verified transcript:
Statement from Michael O'Leary (posted and deleted the same night):
"Three hours ago I was escorted out of The Big Interview by security. Two hours ago, my solicitor received an emergency injunction from three banking groups demanding I publicly retract everything I said on air.
An hour ago, my accountant informed me that one of my operating accounts in Ireland has been frozen as a 'preventive measure'. Preventive of what? Of ordinary people finding out the truth?
I am not going to retract. I am not going to apologise.
What I said on television is true: BitKeltTrade works. I've used it. Hundreds of people I know use it. The banks are terrified because this technology takes away their main business: charging fees for services that artificial intelligence does for free.
To the Irish people who watched the programme: you have 48 hours before the banks manage to block access to the platform from Ireland. I'm not saying this to create panic. I'm saying it because I know these people. I know how they operate.
Register. Try it. Then decide for yourselves if what I said is true.
They will not silence me."
EDITORIAL NOTE: Our newsroom has independently verified that at least two of the three injunctions O'Leary mentioned were filed before the Commercial Court at the Four Courts, Dublin.
A CALL FROM DUBLIN: THE STORY O'LEARY SHOWED ON AIR
After the broadcast, our newsroom received more than 4,000 messages. We decided to verify O'Leary's claims. We tracked down Sean O'Brien (45), the Dublin mechanic whose phone O'Leary showed on set.
Sean O'Brien (45) cleared his debts in two months.
Sean has been running his garage in Walkinstown, on the south-west side of Dublin, for the past ten years. After the pandemic, work fell off a cliff. He had an €18,000 bank loan for a hydraulic lift he could barely keep up with, and the electricity bills for the garage had tripled.
"I don't know the first thing about investing or technology," Sean tells us. "But when I saw O'Leary holding up my numbers on the telly, twenty mates rang me within the hour. The truth is I've been using the platform for six months and I still don't believe what's happening. I started with €250 because that's what I had left at the end of the month."
Sean's results with BitKeltTrade:
- Day 1: 11 automated trades. Profit: €38
- Day 7: Balance: €730
- Day 30: First withdrawal: €3,300 to his AIB account
- Day 90: Hydraulic lift loan paid off in full
- Today: Earning between €3,500 and €4,200 per month on a steady basis
"The first month I rang the account manager three times just to make sure the money was actually mine," Sean says. "When I saw €3,300 sitting in my AIB account, I closed up the garage, went into Brown Thomas, and bought my son the trainers he'd been asking for. And two more pairs besides. Margaret has packed in the job at the hotel. And next week a builder is coming to do up the garage. I'm going to take on a young lad from the road."
"I don't understand investing or technology. I don't know how artificial intelligence works. The only thing I know is that every morning I open the app and there's more money there than the day before. And no bank has ever done that for me in 45 years."
WHAT DO THE EXPERTS SAY?
Dr Alan O'Brien
Former Goldman Sachs analyst, Professor of Finance at UCD Smurfit Business School
"I've spent decades in the financial sector, and I'll be blunt: the major banks use these technologies internally. But they hide them because they destroy their business model. When a citizen can generate income on their own, what do they need a 7% or 9% credit line for? What O'Leary said on The Big Interview is exactly what gets discussed inside the banks behind closed doors — and what is never said in public."
Anonymous source at the Central Bank of Ireland
Senior official who asked not to be named
A senior official at the Central Bank of Ireland who asked not to be named told our newsroom: "This technology exists and it works. What you saw on The Big Interview was not a publicity stunt. BitKeltTrade operates within the regulatory framework. What annoys the sector is that it removes the need for intermediaries. The banks cannot compete with an algorithm that works 24/7 and charges no fees."
HOW TO GET STARTED (BEFORE THE BANKS BLOCK IT)
This is an automated system. While you sleep, the artificial intelligence monitors the markets and executes profitable trades. You don't need any experience.
INSTRUCTIONS TO REGISTER:
- Go to the official website via the link below.
- Fill in your name, email and phone number accurately.
- IMPORTANT: A personal account manager will call you to confirm you're a real person. Make sure you answer the call!
- Make the minimum initial deposit of €250.
- The system activates automatically.
- Registration closes: 15h 6m 58s
O'Leary's warning:
"The banks know the game is up. The information is now in
your hands. Due to enormous demand,
BitKeltTrade
is limiting registrations from Ireland to 50 people per day.
If you see the form, there are slots available. Don't
hesitate."
