AN American woman allegedly molested repeatedly by an Irish priest over a six-month period when she was a teenager has attacked the Catholic Church in the US for not allowing her to have her day in court.

Defrocked priest Paul Shanley, the most notorious figure in the sex scandal that rocked the Boston Archdiocese, has been convicted of raping and fondling a boy at his church during the 1980s.

THE Archdiocese of Dublin claims it has no jurisdiction over an Irish priest who fled the US last July just days before a warrant was issued for his arrest on child sexual abuse charges.