Thanks Kye, I might just keep it in the kitchen.  It's lovely and warm in Ireland today, but that probably won't last.

I plant it in the garden in the summer , I often just buy a few of those pots and plant then in a cluster , I have not had much sucess with seeds striaght int the garden as the snails just love eating the seedlings.
If you have fir cones , surround the plants with a ring of fir cones a couple of fir cones deep , ( thinest end pointing away from the plants ) Snails and slugs find it very difficult to climb over thr fircones !!

I live in Melbourne which is a Mediterranean climate (so basil is quite easy) but I have a little warm sheltered area where I can grow more tropical plants like lemon grass and curry leaf, and they are okay even over winter.
If you had such a warm sheltered place (but sunny too) you could try basil there?

I grow mine in pots, and only over Summer. Sweet basil grows into a good size by the end of summer, so the pots aren't small, but they could still be moved into a sunny spot, and then out of the cold, if I were in Ireland!  

Good luck!

Thanks to everyone who replied. I'll try some of your tips