Genealogists, especially those genealogists with Irish ancestry, owe a lot to Steven Smyrl. He’s the guy whose work and campaigning got the law changed in both jurisdictions in Ireland so that death records began to note important bio data. Death records in the Republic of Ireland used to be worthless because they recorded no vital details about the deceased. Mr Smyrl was responsible for greatly improving things by getting the law changed so that all death registrations would include the person’s date & place of birth and their father & mother’s name.

He has also been responsible for numerous other changes to Irish records of interest to genealogists. He has been described as the “most knowledgeable Irish genealogist on the planet.”

You can read all about Steven Smyrl’s contribution to Irish genealogy in an article by Peter McDermott published in the IrishEcho web site at: https://www.irishecho.com/2023/3/smyrl-genealogy.