 The Local Government (Ireland) Act 1898 divided administrative counties into urban and rural districts, with each rural district corresponding to the non-urban portion of a poor law union within the county.In the Irish Free State poor law unions and rural districts were abolished in 1925 and the powers of boards of guardians transferred to the county councils' Board of Health.In Northern Ireland, poor law unions survived until the Northern Ireland Health and Social Care Service in 1948.