Unfortunately, it has to be said that themajority of foreigners living here are in the "undesirable" category

How do you come up with a statement like that? Do you have evidence to support this? Surely you meant a minority?

I meant majority. Of course, it depends where you are but from what I have seen myself (and thats all im basing my observation on) then I would think that most of the farangs living here are here for one thing only........

Why did You not get a double entry touist visa.?

Many local embassies/consulates (including, it seems Penang) are no longer issuing TVs with more than one entry

Thai consulate,Harcourt Street,Dublin.

No problem..anything you want.

But sinsin - isn't that the very consulate or embassy where the OP was refused a long-term visa? Maybe we're saying that when he was refused that long-term visa, he should have asked for the next best thing, such as a multiple entry tourist visa, or a double-entry, rather than entering the Kingdom on VOA.

Still, the whole story, as presented in the original post, is a dirty shame. An unmarried man under age 50 buys two condos, lives here 5 years, works for most of that time, and now his choices are very limited.

There might be some old farms for sale around Galway......

These days one would part with a lot of money to by an old farm around Galway.