They're in Edinburgh to take on a Scotland side hopeful of one of their better Six Nations campaigns.
Ireland have won all four of their games against the Scots under Schmidt, but a tight encounter is expected at Murrayfield.
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Five players from the initial 40-man squad miss out through injury – Jonathan Sexton, Andrew Trimble, Peter O'Mahony, Andrew Conway and Nenagh man Donnacha Ryan.
Sean O'Brien starts at openside flanker and he says despite the expectations after a successful 2016, they're taking the campaign one step at a time.
Kick off is at 2.25pm.
Defending champions England also get their campaign underway today – they host France at Twickenham from 4.50pm.
