Author John Boyne has described having a "weight" inside him after being sexually abused by a teacher during his teenage years at Terenure College in Dublin.
He said the alleged perpetrator "did not pay for his crimes" as he died earlier this year.
The 52-year-old said the man at the centre of the allegations was brought to court this year, with the court case set for next year.
"In the meantime, he died," Mr Boyne said.
He told RTÉ's Brendan O'Connor programme: "It was a strange moment because on the one hand there was the relief of not having to go through the court experience.
"There was, on the other hand, though the recognition that I nor the substantial number of men would have our moment to stand up in court and look at him and explain our experiences of what he had done to us."
Mr Boyne made the comments as he spoke about how his latest book, 'Water, Earth, Fire and Air', focuses on sexual abuse from four different perspectives.
He said, at first, all of his novels were historical as he kept his personal story out of his books. "I couldn't get into that," he said, explaining how that has changed over time.
He described how for many years after the sexual abuse, he and his friends would tell each other their stories and share a "sort of feeling that there was nothing more we could do about that".
"That was the way it was and there is nothing you can do about it," he added.
He said everyone who endures sexual abuse comes out the other side in different ways, and outlined how complicated it was emotionally for him coming out as gay after being sexually abused.
"Through my twenties I felt this extraordinary amount of rage against the school, against the church, against the teachers. Rage I could not control a lot of the time and really very badly affected me," he said.
Mr Boyne said after the case against John McClean and his sentencing earlier this year along with the "courage of the 23 men and his friends" who came forward, he made the decision to go to Terenure Garda Station and tell them his story and how he was abused by a teacher on several occasions.
"I was not looking for revenge," he added.
He also commended the empathy from the gardaí "at every juncture" regarding the support he was given.
He called on Terenure College and the Carmelite Order to consider compensating victims of their abuser even though he died without a conviction.
In a statement to the Brendan O' Connor programme, the Carmelite Order said it was committed "to supporting all those abused in our schools and other ministry settings".
"This is the case whether the alleged perpetrator is living or deceased," the statement added.
