TAOISEACH ENDA KENNY has told the Dáil that he cannot offer an estimate of the cost to the public of next month’s visit of Barack Obama and Queen Elizabeth next month – because the details of the visits have not yet been fully arranged.

Speaking in the Dáil today, Kenny said it was not possible to given an “up to the cent” cost of the visits and how much of that bill would be footed by the taxpayer.

Kenny also declined to indicate which government department would be responsible for covering the costs, or to offer a “ball-park” estimate for how much the two visits – which come within a week of each other in May – would cost.

The Taoiseach was responding to a question from People Before Profit deputy Richard Boyd Barrett, who said it was wrong of the state to pay “for a jamboree” for Queen Elizabeth when she was “one of the richest women in the world”.

Kenny insisted, however, that any costs borne by the State should be seen “as an investment” in Ireland’s own economic future.

Boyd Barrett, Kenny said, “doesn’t appreciate the scale of the potential”, adding that the criticisms of the Dún Laoghaire TD were “very short-sighted of a deputy from a constituency where the last monarch landed when he visited Ireland”.

“Vast, vast majority of Irish people will warmly welcome both visitors to our shores – you should have the decency to do the same,” Kenny quipped.

Sinn Féin president Gerry Adams asked Kenny to desist from commenting that the Queen’s visit was a sign of Ireland’s growing maturity, saying the phrases suggest “as if we were some way adolescent or juvenile” in opposing her visit.

Socialist Party TD Joe Higgins, meanwhile, said the investment of American companies in Ireland should not be considered “as if they were doing us some kind of kindness”, arguing that companies invested in Ireland simply because it was an easy way in which to make profit.

Higgins asked, in light of the Queen’s wealth, whether Kenny could ask her to “contribute to her own bed and breakfast costs” for the duration of her visit – a suggestion neatly side-stepped by the Taoiseach.

The extent of the Queen’s wealth has always been a matter for debate; Buckingham Palace has previously labelled estimates that her wealth exceeded £100m as “grossly exaggerated”. Forbes last year estimated her wealth about $450m.

Obama’s wealth was estimated at $2.5m during his presidential campaign, though recent filings have shown that he and his wife Michelle have earned a combined total of about $3m each year since taking office – with the bulk of that wealth coming from the sales of Obama’s books.

Obama’s annual salary is $400,000, while the Queen does not earn a salary – though the latter does receive stipends to cover her living expenses.