Just 72 per cent of the standard mail handled by An Post last year reached its destination by the following day, according to figures published yesterday by ComReg.

This represented a decline of one percentage point on 2005 and is well below the 94 per cent next-day delivery target agreed by the State group with the regulator. The statistics also showed that 97 per cent of all mail was delivered within three working days, below the 99.5 per cent target set by ComReg.

In addition, just 70 per cent of mail posted in Dublin for delivery around the State reached its destination the next working day. This was down three percentage points on 2005.

The only positive for An Post came from figures for the final quarter of last year, which included the busy Christmas season, when next-day delivery service levels were up three points on the previous year.

News of the performance drew a sharp response from consumer representatives. Ann Fitzgerald, executive chair of the National Consumer Association, said she viewed the "poor service with concern". She said the agency was seeking a meeting with ComReg to discuss the issue.

"Consumers deserve a fair service for their An Post products in return for the price they pay," Ms Fitzgerald said.

Consumer Association of Ireland chief executive Dermott Jewell described it as a "bad performance" by An Post and said it should not have been granted a price rise in March, when the cost of a standard stamp rose from 48 cent to 55 cent.

"We're paying more for a service that's becoming steadily worse," he said. "The price rise should have been held off until the service improved. An Post has to do something very seriously and very quickly to prove to consumers that it can do the job it's supposed to do."

ComReg chairman Mike Byrne described An Post's performance as "unsatisfactory" and said "actions" to address the matter were "overdue".

"Much remains to be done and continued leadership will be necessary to reach an acceptable quality standard," he said.

An Post said a number of measures had been put in place to improve targets. It said internal figures for the first quarter of 2007 suggested an improvement of four percentage points in next-day deliveries. "We will continue to drive mail service performance and we are fully committed to reaching the target of 80 per cent next-day delivery this year, and to achieving ComReg's target of 94 per cent within three years," An Post said.