For the past three months, the 14 youths have been working with local councillor, Joe Malone, youth worker Peter O'Brien and Teresa Heary and Gladys Bowles from the Happe House to build six remote-controlled model rally cars in a bid to learn about drug awareness and road safety.

On Saturday, once all five cars were completed, the lads showed them off to the public on the Parade in an attempt to raise funds to repay the Happe House for giving them the opportunity to take part in the programme.

The brainchild of Cllr Malone, who is a fierce drug awareness campaigner, and his fellow Addiction Studies graduate from NUI Maynooth, Peter O'Brien, the rally car programme gave the young men, many of whom are unemployed, something to focus on and work towards.

The group included Martin Doyle, Ollie O'Neill, Robert Lacey, Luke Whearty, Eoin Phelan, Eamonn Roche, Sammy Johnson, Sonny Charles, Dylan Whearty, Shane Doyle, Wayne Johnson, Jamie Glennon and Patrick Mullally, all from the Hebron area of the city.

A large crowd gathered to watch a race between the cars on Saturday, but a signal for the remote controls couldn't be found and instead the young men publicly raced each other to change car tyres. Members of the public were also invited to view both a rally car and a road car to see the differences between the two and why one was equipped for high speeds and one was not.

Special guests at the event included John McGuinness TD and Kilkenny Mayor Malcolm Noonan who both praised Cllr Malone for his initiative and community care. The model cars will now be auctioned off to raise further funds for the Happe House.