Scotland aim for win No.3
Duncan Weir has replaced Finn Russell at flyhalf after his Glasgow colleague was ruled out with a concussion suffered in the opening minutes of the team's 29-18 victory over France at Murrayfield last weekend.
Meanwhile, New Zealander Cotter has made two changes in the pack with Ryan Wilson coming in for Josh Strauss at No.8 and Tim Swinson taking over in the second row from injured lock Jonny Gray (chest muscle).
Saturday's match at Lansdowne Road will see Weir lining up alongside captain and scrumhalf Greig Laidlaw, who is set to break David Sole's record of 25 Tests as Scotland skipper.
Defeats by England (9-15) and Wales (23-27) in their opening two matches of this season's Championship meant Scotland had gone nine successive Six Nations matches without a win.
But a 36-20 victory away to Italy in Rome stopped the rot before Scotland beat France for the first time in a decade last weekend.
"We were pleased with our sustained effort against France," said Cotter in a Scottish Rugby Union statement after announcing his team on Thursday.
"I was happy with the way we adapted to losing Finn so early in the game. The team came together and was rewarded for their endeavour with the end result."
But this weekend Scotland face an Ireland side who scored nine tries during a 58-15 thrashing of Italy in Dublin last Saturday.
Remarkably, that was defending champions Ireland's first win of the tournament after an opening 16-16 draw with Wales was followed by defeats against both France (9-10) and England (10-21).
Cotter was well aware of the task now facing a buoyant Scotland team.
"The challenge for us now is to keep constructing our game and enjoy the last coming together of the championship in a Scotland jersey, against an Ireland team full of confidence after a convincing win over Italy," he said.
Scotland: 15 Stuart Hogg, 14 Tommy Seymour, 13 Duncan Taylor, 12 Alex Dunbar, 11 Tim Visser, 10 Duncan Weir, 9 Greig Laidlaw (captain), 8 Ryan Wilson, 7 John Hardie, 6 John Barclay, 5 Tim Swinson, 4 Richie Gray, 3 Willem Nel, 2 Ross Ford, 1 Alasdair Dickinson.
Replacements: 16 Stuart McInally, 17 Rory Sutherland, 18 Moray Low, 19 Rob Harley, 20 Josh Strauss, 21 Henry Pyrgos, 22 Pete Horne, 23 Sean Lamont.
Date: Saturday, March 19
Venue: Aviva Stadium, Dublin
Kick-off: 17.00 (17.00 GMT)
Referee: Pascal Gauzère (France)
Assistant referees: Craig Joubert (South Africa), Alexandre Ruiz (France)
TMO: Shaun Veldsman (South Africa)
Agence France-Presse
