COMREG HAS been given additional powers to regulate An Post, including the ability to seek financial penalties if it does not meet delivery targets.

The new regulations, signed by Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources Eamon Ryan yesterday, bring ComReg's powers in relation to the postal sector in line with those it has to regulate electronic communications.

ComReg will be able to apply to the High Court to have fines imposed on An Post if it fails to comply with its directions. This includes failure to meet delivery targets or comply with directions in relation to those targets.

ComReg's 2007 report on the quality of service provided by An Post found that just 77 per cent of letters are delivered the next day after being posted. Although that was a five percentage point improvement on the previous year, it is some way off the 94 per cent target set by ComReg. Just 97 per cent of mail was delivered within three working days of being posted compared to a ComReg target of 99.5 per cent.

Although Mr Ryan said he appreciated the recent improvements made by An Post "and the efforts and commitment of all at the company to achieving further improvements", the performance was still significantly short of ComReg targets.

"I believe that postal services will continue to perform valuable economic and social roles in the years to come and will underpin the key economic objective of Ireland becoming a knowledge economy," said Mr Ryan.

"Irish consumers deserve world-class, high quality postal services on a par with those enjoyed by consumers elsewhere in the European Union."

Under the EU's third postal directive, ComReg is required to oversee the introduction of full competition to Irish postal services by the end of 2010.