Mee, 22, is joined by Ospreys fly-half Dan Edwards and flanker James Botham in the XV, with injured Scarlets pair Sam Costelow and Taine Plumtree making way, along with Gabriel Hamer-Webb who fails to make the 23.
Looking to build on the “gut-wrenching” 26-23 defeat by Scotland last weekend, head coach Steve Tandy keeps faith with the same front-row of try scorer Rhys Carre, captain Dewi Lake and Thomas Francis.
Ben Carter’s impressive performance against the Scots, keeps Adam Beard on the bench, with the Dragons lock partnered with Dafydd Jenkins.
Alex Mann swaps flanks, with Cardiff’s Botham coming in, whilst Aaron Wainwright reverts back to number eight.
The Scarlets centre duo of Joe Hawkins and Eddie James is unchanged, whilst Edwards will look to put in a positive performance in the absence of Costelow, with the Ospreys youngster resuming his half-back partnership with Tomos Williams.
Mee then slots into the back three with Josh Adams on the opposite wing and Louis Rees-Zammit at full back.
21-year-old Bath centre Louie Hennessey will look to make his Six Nations debut off the bench.
Wales have suffered 24 defeats in 26 internationals and have not beaten Ireland away in the Six Nations since 2012 or achieved a victory in Dublin since 2015 which was in a World Cup warm-up game.
The Irish suffered an opening round defeat by France in Paris, but have since beaten Italy and England to keep alive their title hopes, while they can also win the Triple Crown.
Speaking after the team announcement, head coach Steve Tandy said:
“There are a couple of enforced changes this week due to injury, and then Ellis[Mee] had played well in the opening couple of rounds, so we feel he deserves the opportunity again.
“Dan [Edwards] was disappointed not being picked against Scotland, but the way he reacted was outstanding.
“We want to create competition and that will push us on to be the team we want to be.”
“I’m disappointed for Sam [Costelow] because the way he attacked the game was outstanding.
“With Jarrod coming off the bench, we’ve got competition in the 10 spot, which is good.
“This week it’s about backing up the performance against Scotland. Going away from home is a different type of environment for our group, but the focus for us is really improving on what we did last game.
“I thought the defence against Scotland was much improved, so we definitely want to double down on that going to Ireland. You see how they keep the ball in possession, they play lots of passes, so we know we’re going to have to build and improve from the other week.
“Louie [Hennessey] was unfortunate not to get his opportunity in the autumn, but he’s trained really well. He had a bit of a bump on his hand at the start of this campaign, but the way he’s recovered and put in performances in the training environment has been very impressive. We’re all excited to see Louie go out in Dublin.”
Wales XV:
15 Louis Rees-Zammit, 14 Ellis Mee, 13 Eddie James, 12 Joe Hawkins, 11 Josh Adams, 10 Dan Edwards,
9 Tomos Williams, 1 Rhys Carre, 2 Dewi Lake (captain), 3 Thomas Francis, 4 Dafydd Jenkins, 5 Ben Carter,
6 Alex Mann, 7 James Botham, 8 Aaron Wainwright.
Replacements:
16 Ryan Elias, 17 Nicky Smith, 18 Archie Griffin, 19 Adam Beard, 20 Ollie Cracknell, 21 Kieran Hardy, 22 Jarrod Evans, 23 Louie Hennessey.
[Lead image: Welsh Rugby Union]
