Ruairí de Barra is a writer, poet, and defence and security contributor. A retired Senior Chief Petty Officer, he served for over two decades with the Irish Naval Service and Óglaigh na hÉireann. He now works in the emergency services sector.
He has written extensively on maritime, military, historical, and international affairs for both academic and professional publications. As an accredited Irish Defence Forces military journalist, he is a regular contributor to An Cosantóir, the official magazine of the Irish Defence Forces. His work has also appeared in Emergency Services Ireland, Contact (Australia), and other defence and emergency services publications.
In 2017, he was the inaugural winner of the An Cosantóir Gen MJ Costello Award. He has been twice nominated for the European Military Press Association Awards—first in 2017 for Shipshape and Ready for Action, and again in 2018 for Rebuilding Somalia – The Sea is Their Future.
He holds a Bachelor of Arts in Leadership, Management and Naval Studies from CIT, and a Masters of Commerce in Government and Public Policy from UCC. His service with the Defence Forces included service overseas in the southern Mediterranean on the humanitarian rescue mission Operation PONTUS in 2015 and on the European naval mission Operation SOPHIA in 2018.
His creative writing has been published in a range of literary journals and anthologies, including, such as Tinteán, A New Ulster, Live Encounters, Bangor Literary Journal, The Ranthology Anthology, Black Bough Poetry, The Boston Globe, Poetry Jukebox, The Silence Anthology, and The Cobh Chronicle.
You can read all his work here on http://www.paperneverefusedink.com
Notes on Paper Never Refused Ink.
One of the finest Chiefs to ever don stripes once told me, “Paper never refused ink.” I loved the phrase. Pretty sure we were talking about writing nonsense in the news, but it stuck with me a perfect summary of the inherent permission everyone has to write, even if most of what will be written wouldn’t be read by many; or even anyone at at all.
I am a Mayoman lost in Cork, and I have not been able to find my way out for almost three decades. I love to write and a friend gave me the best advice ever a number of years ago, he said “never throw away another word, before you at least re-write it.” So I took a first step over ten years ago to create this WordPress page and it started from there. I am always eager to learn more, think more, read more, write more, re-write even more, and throw away far less.”
Paper Never Refused Ink! 