The Government will meet representatives from a variety of stakeholder groups today to discuss October's Budget. The National Economic Dialogue will be attended by trade unions, business groups and research institutes, as well as representatives from the community, voluntary and environmental sectors. | The Taoiseach, Tánaiste and various Government ministers will outline their priorities and listen to the views of attendees. The meeting is not intended to produce specific Budget proposals or recommendations, but is designed to assist participants in preparing their own pre-Budget submissions. | The Government has announced a new €85 million digital transition fund that will provide grant aid for businesses. The funding is designed to help companies develop new digital products, processes and services and will allow them invest in software, new equipment, staff training, automation and Artificial Intelligence (AI). | €85 million in funding will be made available between now and 2026, with €10 million available in 2022. The fund will be administered by Enterprise Ireland and will be used to help companies access digital technology like AI, cloud computing and big data to improve their products, processes, supply chains and services. | Commercial property firm Hibernia REIT is set to leave the Irish Stock Exchange this morning, after its acquisition completed on Friday. Hibernia accepted a €1.1 billion takeover by Canada's Brookfield Asset Management in March. Brookfield has now acquired all of its shares, with its admission to Euronext Dublin and the London Stock Exchange set to be cancelled at 8am this morning. | Oil prices edged lower today, reversing earlier gains, as concerns about slowing global economic growth and fuel demand outweighed worries about tightening supplies. Brent crude futures slipped 3 cents to $113.09 a barrel by 0515 GMT, after rising as much as 1% earlier. Front-month prices tumbled 7.3% last week, their first weekly fall in five.   |||