THE father of a 17-month-old girl whom a couple tried to take from her mother's arms said he believes they wanted to kidnap his daughter.
The couple were posing as health-care workers at the time.
This is the third incident of its kind in Cork and Limerick within three weeks.
Gardai say they are distributing artist's drawings of the couple who called to the Flynns' house at Berrings, outside Cork city at 10.30 a.m. last Wednesday.
Mr John Flynn says he will also distribute the drawings to shops and petrol stations in the county over the next few weeks.
The man and woman came to the back door of the Flynns' house.
They prevented Mrs Gisela Flynn from telephoning a neighbour.
The woman, in her mid-30s with short, dark hair, tried to grab Lorna from her mother's arms, but Mrs Flynn fled into a bedroom and barricaded the door.
Mr Flynn said the couple tried to knock down the door.
"You should see the marks they left on that door. They definitely wanted to kidnap the baby," he said yesterday.
He warned that they appeared to be the kind of people who would pick on a vulnerable person and try the same thing again. "These people have no shame," he said.
Gardai are also investigating an incident in Blarney, Co Cork, last Friday when two women approached a house and one told the babyminder she was from the health board. They left when the minder asked for identification.
Another woman claiming to be a health board nurse called to a house in Mountpellier, Co Limerick, three weeks ago and asked to see James, the four-year-old son of Mrs Marie Ryan.
Mrs Ryan said she became suspicious when the woman hurt her son during the examination, and she told her to leave.
Gardai in Cork and Limerick said their investigations were continuing.