Gardaí are searching for a car hijacked and then used in attempted robberies in the Navan-Meath area overnight.
At about 10 p.m. a driver of a blue Subaru was "ambushed" by men driving a Volvo shortly after they had stopped him to ask for directions, a Garda spokesman said.
The driver was assaulted and his car stolen. He sustained minor injuries, was taken to Navan hospital in Co Westmeath and later released.
The burned-out Volvo was later found.
The Subaru - described by the spokesman as a two-litre "fast car" - was used in a series of attempted break-ins in Navan and the rest of Co Meath.
The drivers tried to rob a service station outside Navan in at about 3 a.m. An hour later they tried to break into a pub outside Kells in Co Meath.
At 4.30 a.m. the Subaru was seen outside Navan.
Anybody who may have spotted the blue Subaru - registration 98 WW 7171 - are asked to contact gardaí.