Winner of the title for the most inappropriate acronym of the year to date must surely go to the "BMW" regional assembly. While it may be looking for blue-chip enterprise to gift it a smooth take-off, the Border Midlands and Western Regional Assembly will be going a long way before its area carries the cachet of the Munich automobile maker's marque.

The assembly this week unveiled an ambitious £3.2 billion (€4.06 billion) investment programme for the region, a blackspot for jobs and somewhat left behind in investment in recent years. The investment augments the £10 billion coming the way of the area under the National Development Plan.

The money will go primarily towards updating the region's infrastructure, which it hopes will let it build on the first increase in its population since the Famine and overcome the hurdles imposed by the loss of jobs in more traditional industries such as textiles and fishing.

It may kick-start the local economy but it will still be a long way from the BMW league.

Dominic Coyle can be contacted at dcoyle@irish-times.ie