€78,000 is a lot of money to go unaccounted for! You have a right to be worried but with a little preparation and honesty you should be fine.
I recommend you get bank statements and credit union statements for you, your husband, and any joint accounts for the past year immediately.
The welfare officer will probably highlight certain withdrawals and ask where the money went. Try your best to remember the names of builders, plasterers, plumbers, sparkies, etc, and approx how much went to each. Once you have a schedule of where the money went you should be grand. You might even consider taking photos of the work done as evidence.
A large chunk of the money probably went to bills and loan repayments since your husband's hours were cut. Once again, provide a breakdown of how your expenditure exceeded your income and ate into the money you got from the sale of the house.
As for giving money to family to "help them out".. this probably won't fly. For all the welfare officer knows you took €30k and hid it in a safe so you wouldn't be means tested on it. Or if you gave €20k to a family member, what's stopping them from giving it back to you straight after the means test? Be sensible here. If you came into the money AFTER your husband's hours were cut then it would be very suspicious that you just gave away money you clearly needed.
At the end of the day it is up to you to prove you no longer have the money (means) and that's why it's called a means test. Good luck!
