'Forgotten and neglected", living "cold empty, colourless lives", in "19th century buildings unfit for purpose".

Last week's annual report for 2008 by the inspector of mental health services into national standards makes for disturbing reading. It was highly critical, listing a string of serious failures at a number of hospitals and mental health facilities around Ireland.

Some of the most vulnerable people in Irish society are living in facilities that, put simply, are intolerable. Basic levels of privacy and dignity are eroded.

We over-medicate and isolate people from their own communities. We put children in adult psychiatric units -- so constant and normal a daily violation of the basic human rights that we have almost lost the capacity to be outraged about it.

At its AGM last week the Irish Association of Social Workers added its voice to the numbers criticising this practice.

This is all the more disturbing when you reflect upon the reality of mental health difficulties. Surely when providing treatment, there is an acute need for an environment which is conducive to good mental health. How can we expect people to recover in semi-squalid hospital wards with mould on the walls and overstretched staff?

And some units are unsafe.

A recent report revealed that residents are still experiencing unexplained fracture injuries in uncertain circumstances at psychiatric units in St Luke's Hospital, Clonmel, Co Tipperary and St Michael's Unit, South Tipperary General Hospital, Clonmel, despite the fact this was first highlighted in an internal HSE September 2004 report.

The Irish Mental Health Coalition (IMHC) called for all admissions to St Luke's to be stopped, but this has not yet happened.

Many will argue that we cannot afford to invest in mental health services at this time. But this is exactly the time to do it.

Last month the British Government announced investment of £175m into mental health services to help them cope with increased demand caused by the recession.

The Irish Government failed to react similarly when it had the chance in April's Budget. This is despite the secretary general of the World Health Organisation warning, "it is essential ... to counter this period of economic downturn by increasing investment in health and the social sector".

The economic costs of decades of government neglect were made clear by the publication in September of last year of a Mental Health Commission report, 'The Economics of Mental Health Care in Ireland', which estimated the direct annual cost of poor mental health in Ireland was a staggering €3bn, or 2pc of GNP.

Put bluntly, the Government cannot afford not to address the issue.

In January 2006 the Government published its policy on mental health, 'A Vision for Change'. It was rightly praised for putting service users at the centre of both planning and decision-making.

But over three years later the promised and much-needed improvements have not materialised. Instead we have had ineffective implementation plans and little actual change. Much of the money promised under the policy has been squandered, channelled away to fill funding black holes elsewhere in our health system.

It is clear policy alone is failing. Instead we need enforceable legislation to deliver human rights and greater equality, effectiveness and efficiency in mental health services, as well as accountability in how such services are funded.

If we legislate for mental health in Ireland we entirely change the playing field. We move from seeing people as patients and problems to seeing them simply as people. At its simplest, it's about freedom, about giving people with mental health difficulties the opportunity to lead a full life.

It's about finding alternatives to medication. It's about mental health service users making decisions around their care instead of being passengers in their own lives.

Earlier this month the HSE published a second inadequate action plan to implement 'A Vision for Change'. It is yet another missed opportunity by the Government to bring the policy to life and so improve the quality of life of thousands of people experiencing mental health problems across the country.

Today, the UN's foremost expert on the right to health, Anand Grover, will tell an audience of health professionals, policy experts and, perhaps most importantly, people with direct experience of using mental health services and their families, that Ireland must live up to its obligations under international human rights law.

That it must legislate to provide mental health services that are available, accessible, acceptable and of good quality.

The IMHC is hosting this conference, which includes international and national perspectives from human rights experts, users of services and service providers.

It is intended to kick-start a much-needed discussion on how legislation could transform government policy, as outlined in 'A Vision for Change', from aspiration to reality.

But we need to see commitment and determination backed up by action.

Mental health services in Ireland are simply not good enough. Today's conference is the first step towards proper implementation of what is, after all, government policy.

John Saunders is chairman of the Irish Mental Health Coalition

- John Saunders