Green’s Dictionary of Slang

(Irish) an object of pity, or distaste.

1948		P. Kavanagh Tarry Flynn (1965) 11: The white cow has a tear on her teat that’s a total dread.
1975		J. Ryan Remembering How We Stood 107: The place is a total dread [...] you couldn’t have him in this squalid tenement.
1996		(ref. to 1963) D. Healy Bend for Home 180: What happened to you? asked Lila Little. I was in a fight. You look a dread, she said.