Finglas Irish Stew with Dumplings

My father hails from Finglas, on the north side of Dublin, and he always made his Irish stew with dumplings in it. Even more interesting, the dumplings were dotted with fresh parsley and raisins. Sound like it’s not authentic? My Dublin-born and -bred grandmother made it that way herself. Perhaps it’s a subset of Irish stew recipes, but it’s my family’s subset and I love it. If the idea of dumplings goes against your sense of Irish stew, use the excellent recipe below and merely leave out t