Next-day delivery of standard mail by An Post improved by 4 per cent in the first quarter of 2007, but still fell short of targets set by the regulator.

Results from the quarterly independent report on the quality of service performance of An Post from ComReg found that 78 per cent of single piece priority mail, or standard correspondence, was delivered within one working day throughout the State against a target of 94 per cent. The report revealed that 98 per cent of all mail was delivered within three working days, still short of the 99.5 per cent target set by ComReg.

The regulator said the report highlighted some variation in results between different mail flows.

"Of note once again is the poor performance of mail posted outside of Dublin for delivery to addresses in Dublin county - 72 per cent, in contrast with the level of service attributed to mail posted outside of Dublin for delivery within county of post- ing 81 per cent, or compared with the performance of mail posted in Dublin for local delivery of 80 per cent," ComReg said.

ComReg also found that 79 per cent of mail posted in Dublin for nationwide delivery is reported as delivered the next working day, while 76 per cent of mail posted outside Dublin for delivery throughout the State is delivered within one working day of posting.

Mail posted outside of Dublin for local delivery recorded a success rate of 81 per cent, the report revealed.

An Post chief Donal Connell said the report showed a significant improvement in An Post's operations.

"These results confirm the steady improvement we have seen in our internal quality measures, and it is all the more satisfying given the increased volume of mail we handled during this period," he said.

"They also confirm the results issued recently by the International Postal Corporation (IPC) on international mail and also acknowledged by Royal Mail," he said

A recent IPC study showed that in the first quarter of 2007 An Post achieved a 5 per cent improvement on last year's rate of next-day delivery for incoming international mail, Mr Connell said.