McCarthy was capped for Brian Ashton's England at the U-21 World Cup in 2002.
Luke Fitzgerald and Rory Best return after suffering injuries during the Guinness series in November.
Speaking about the squad, Declan Kidney said: 'As always the selection of the squad is never an easy one but certainly the level of competition in each position is probably as great as it has ever been over the last two years.
'Players have been really pushing their performances for their provinces, so that level of competition can only be good.
'That translates into more competition for each place in the squad and then for the first selection against Italy, which can only be a good thing coming into the championship.'
Ireland Squad for RBS 6 Nations Championship:
Backs: Tommy Bowe, Gordon D'Arcy, Gavin Duffy, Keith Earls, Luke Fitzgerald, Shane Horgan, Ronan O' Gara, Brian O'Driscoll, Eoin Reddan, Jonathan Sexton, Peter Stringer, Andrew Trimble, Paddy Wallace.
Forwards: Rory Best, Tom Court, Sean Cronin, Leo Cullen, Stephen Ferris, Jerry Flannery, John Hayes, Cian Healy, Jamie Heaslip, Shane Jennings, Denis Leamy, Mike McCarthy, Donncha O'Callaghan, Paul O'Connell, Sean O'Brien, Mick O'Driscoll, Michael Ross,
Rhys Ruddock, David Wallace.
An O2 Ireland Wolfhounds panel was also named today and that squad will be supplemented by further players following the weekend provincial games. The team to play Scotland A in Netherdale on Friday, 28 January will be selected on Wednesday, 26 January,
O2 Ireland Wolfhounds Squad:
Backs
Isaac Boss, Ian Humphreys, Denis Hurley, Keith Matthews, Fergus McFadden, Johne Murphy, Niall O'Connor, Tomas O'Leary, Eoin O'Malley, A.N. Other.
Forwards
Nigel Brady, Tony Buckley, Willie Faloon, Jamie Hagan, Chris Henry, Kevin McLaughlin, Dominic Ryan, Donnacha Ryan, Devin Toner, Dan Tuohy, Damien Varley, Brett Wilkinson.
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